


Lovelorn

by Azia



Series: Sentimental Schoolgirl Simulator [1]
Category: Yandere Simulator (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, Blood and Violence, Brother/Sister Incest, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Period-Typical Homophobia, Self-Harm, Slut Shaming, Suicide, Teacher-Student Relationship, Trans Character, Transphobia, Underage Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-05-18 18:44:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 57,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5939214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azia/pseuds/Azia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Aishi twins would do anything in the name of love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. On the First Day of Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> **who is yandere-kun?** in this story i have used dev's (never going to be used, apparently) male counterpart to yandere-chan, "yandere-kun," and decided to make yan-chan and yan-kun twin siblings. there are "slight" differences between them, but they're still both the coldblooded killers we all know and love. ♡
> 
>  **what about unnamed characters?** unnamed rivals were given names and all other names and information were taken from the wiki and dev's tweets. and if an important character is suddenly blessed with a name in the midst of writing this i'm not going to change anything in the story because, wow, that's a lot of work and i already put a lot of effort into writing and editing and you should know i'm lazy by now. ♡
> 
>  **is this is an alternative universe?** yes. well... sort of. the story is set in the 1990's because of the ~aesthetic~ of old technology and so i can have an excuse for why some ppl don't have cellphones at points in time when the police really should be called. :) welcome to the infancy of social media and the internet altogether! i can't seem to write anything in modern times, sorry. ♡
> 
>  **what do the percentages at the beginning of each chapter mean?** the percentages are of the current school atmosphere in each chapter. the reasons for each drop can be found on the wiki if you're interested. for example: if someone goes missing without a trace, that's a -5% decrease. normal school atmosphere is 100-70%, medium is 69-21%, and low is 20-0%. the goal of this story is to successfully reach 0% school atmosphere. ♡
> 
>  **how do the tags work?** this is important! you can see that some chapters are individually tagged with their own warnings. i do have the story tags which are overall themes throughout the story that are unavoidable. the individual chapter tags are for when a tag that's already present is really going to be highlighted in that particular chapter. for example: the story already is tagged for "rape/non-con," but i'll still tag an individual chapter with "scene with dubious consent." **at any time you can request that i add something to tags if you like, i'll be glad to**. ♡
> 
> anyways, there will be no more author's notes from me. thank you for reading _lovelorn_. enjoy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 100% 

The twins waved their mother away. They were only allowed to show their true colors in front of her. No smiles, no heartfelt hugs or tears were exchanged when they said their goodbyes. Just a simple wave.

“I’ll be gone for about ten weeks or so maybe. She’s very sick.” She left, and that was the end of it.

Aishi Ayano and her precious twin brother, Yande, sat in her room together; he at the desk and she on her bed. He swiveled around in the chair and she only stared up at the ceiling. These were the wonderful instances when they were comfortable. Together. No words. Pure silence. Inhale. Exhale. They couldn’t ask for much more.

But things had somewhat changed since high school. Yande had grown taller ( _“Yan-kun, all these naps are just making you grow more and more, eh? Stay awake more often!”_ ) and Ayano more curvy ( _“Ooh, Yan-chan, you’ll knock everyone dead with those hips!”_ ), and it was an understatement to say that their mother was excited over their blessed gifts of puberty. Though they were fraternal twins, they couldn’t have been more identical. When they were younger they took on a more androgynous look to seem even more alike. Shorts and short haircuts were always in order. Now they took on their respective forms in high school. Ayano grew her hair to shoulders, but usually kept it swept up in ponytail since she was so used to having her hair out of the way over the years. Yande still kept his nice and neat. He was losing the boyish fat in his face and had developed sharp cheek bones, while Ayano still looked somewhat babyish.

She fiddled with the thin straps of her tank-top and dragged her socked toes across the plush carpet of her room as she released a sigh into the atmosphere. Yande reciprocated. It was going to be a long winter break. _Especially_ without their parents. They didn’t even know where their father was. He had run off into the night around three months prior. He called, but never requested to speak to their mother. Yande had claimed that divorce was inevitable at this point, and Ayano quietly agreed, never the optimist.

Their phones chimed simultaneously. They had been gifted with small black cellphones from their mother as an early Christmas present. Their mother insisted for them to keep the phones. They had Internet and she had even given them cute little matching charms. They only ever called their parents and went online to check on Senpai’s BubblegumChum account for updates though.

Ah, Senpai.

Ayano only glanced at her phone, but Yande actually picked his up. 

> _@ **info_chan6** wants to be your friend!_

“Somebody sent me a friend request on BubblegumChum,” Yande said, his voice drained of all enthusiasm. Ayano didn’t respond.

The heat had basically been turned up to the maximum. There wasn’t snow outside, but the night air chilled to the bone and nearly frosted the windows. Living by the ocean didn’t protect them from the nip of Jack Frost at night, but come morning it would hopefully warm up again. For now Ayano was left in a pair of her brother’s shorts from his junior high days and a pair of long socks in case the heater failed her.

“Should I accept it?”

“If you want.” Yande sighed. That was his sister, only speaking when spoken to, always giving curt answers. He pressed to accept the request. 

> _@ **info_chan6** wants to talk now!_

“Check your phone, Yan-chan.” Ayano did as told. She had a friend request from the same person. “Accept it.” She did. All three of them were included in the chat room now. Having Ayano in the chat was most likely going to be helpless. Yande usually had to take the reins in the relationship, but there were times when she came out of nowhere and took control.

Such as now.

> _**バブルガム✿CHUM**_  
>  ♡ thu. – 25.dec.97 / 21:32 ♡  
>  _> group chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan6** : Hello Aishi Ayano and Yande, or should I say Yan-chan and Yan-kun. I am Info-chan, and that’s all you need to know._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : what do you want?_  
>  _**info_chan6** : I want to help the both of you. You both have affections for Yamada Taro, otherwise known as “Senpai,” correct?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : how do u know this?_  
>  _**info_chan6** : They don’t call me Info-chan for nothing. I actually go to your school. I know just about everything about everyone, including you two. I think that the both of you will benefit greatly if we help each other out._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : y would we want to help u?_  
>  _**yandere_kun** : yeah. what do we get of this?_  
>  _**info_chan6** : I thought I said enough. You two like Yamada-senpai. There are at least ten others who also like him and are planning to confess to him during various times after break. You don’t want for your precious Senpai to slip from your fingers and into your rivals’, do you?_

Ayano looked up at her brother. There was faint emotion behind her eyes. There always was whenever their Senpai was mentioned. This stranger had a point, but what were they getting at?  

> _**info_chan6** : It just so happens that we all share the same rivals. What a beautiful coincidence, huh? We can take them down together. What do you say?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : were listening._  
>  _**info_chan6** : I know just everything about your mother and the things she did high school to get your father to stay with her. I bet that you two can do even better than she did. She only had to get rid one or two other girls tops. You two getting rid of ten or more people. Maybe even enough to turn the entire school around. Now that would be amazing. And I know that all of us can get away with it without getting caught. Everything will be perfect._  
>  _**info_chan6** : So, how about it?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : ill do it._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : yeah. i’m in too._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Great. I’ll spend the rest of break giving you as much information on the student body as I can, but I mainly gain knowledge when people are in school, so some things might have gone stale over break. You two need to pay attention to other people now. You can’t keep to yourselves anymore._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : got ya._

 ❀

> _**バブルガム✿CHUM**_  
>  ♡ fri. – 26.dec.97 / 15:09 ♡  
>  _> group chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan6** : I have mapped out the school a million times over and I have compiled a nice little list of the various ways we can get rid of our enemies._  
>  _**info_chan6** : We have drowning. You can use the fountain in the front of the school or the swim team’s pool in the gym. Electrocution – you can tamper with a light and when a wet student touches it, they’ll be in for a nice shock (ha). Poisoning – you can concoct something from the science club or in chemistry and then slip into someone’s drink or lunch. There’s straight up homicide – bring weapons or use the school’s. I recommend the school’s. Kidnapping – your mother used that tactic, so I’m sure you two would enjoy it too. Fake suicide – kill a student and make it seem like a suicide. It has to be believable._  
>  _**info_chan6** : There are also some hands-off methods. You can frame another student of a crime. Make it believable._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Actually now that I think about it you have to commit a crime before you frame another student of it, so it’s technically not a “hands-off method.” But you can gossip about a student and drive them to leaving the school or committing suicide. But if you do that, be careful of your reputation. You can also make the student look so bad in front of Senpai that he’ll reject them when they confess to him._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Ooh, I came up with a new method: friend elimination. This will especially hurt the social butterfly of a rival. If you eliminate all of their friends using any methods of your choosing, then they’ll be crushed. Oh, and then there’s actual crushing. You can throw something from the school roof onto somebody. How does that sound?_  
>  _**yandere_kun** : i like crushing things._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Cool. Same._

❀ 

> _**バブルガム✿CHUM**_  
>  ♡ sat. – 27.dec.97 / 17:46 ♡  
>  _> group chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan6** : For your first week we have Najimi Osana. Her username is @gacktgirl81 if you want to check out her profile. She’s childhood friends with Senpai and a total bitch._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : y? what she do?_  
>  _**info_chan6** : I got footage of her giving blowjobs in the Little China restaurant bathroom for money. I hacked into her chats and she talks about fucking Senpai and looking for opportunities to get him off all the time. She got close to doing it last weekend before his parents came home and now they’ve been spending all of winter break together. They’re actually planning to take a trip to the beach soon when it’s warmer._  
>  _**info_chan6** : I want you two to dismember her. Cut off her fingers and toes, then her twiggy little arms and legs, and then take out her eyes and rip out her teeth and pull out her cum-stained tongue in your basement. I want you to film the whole thing and send me the video too. __Would be nice if I could find a way for you to mail her tongue to me..._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : perfect._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Your second rival is Shiba Sweetie (@sixdozencreampuffs). She’s president of the Cooking Club. Yeah, she’s cute and sweet, and everybody calls her “big sis,” but she’s a beast on the inside. Her friends are slowly convincing her to confess to Senpai around the second week after break. Poison her food. Better yet, poison her friends’ food too. I’d love to see them choke._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : do we have 2 get into cooking club 1st in order to get 2 her though?_  
>  _**info_chan6** : Duh._

 ❀

> _**バブルガム✿CHUM**_  
>  ♡ sun. – 28.dec.97 / 01:12 ♡  
>  _> group chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan6** : Third is Kokona Haruka (@kokonutz). Her various visits to the clinic have confirmed that her tits are indeed fake. She’s about to leave Cooking Club and become the president of the Drama Club when one of the members move. Might be sooner after Sweetie’s disappearance. She’s all about people and her reputation. Exploit her. Find out anything and everything about her. Gossip and spread rumors until it’s too much for her to handle._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Fourth is Kaiyo Puru (@kaiyo_the_swimmer), captain of the swim team. Little known secret: she’s poor and can only afford going to the school from her swim comp sponsors. I looked on the swim team’s forum and I noticed them speaking about her crush with Senpai and her plans on confessing after she competes in a prefecture-wide comp. She’s the only girl on the team who wears shorts when she swims and apparently her team is suspicious about her only changing clothes when she’s alone. Look into that. Before drowning her, make everybody quit the club._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Fifth is Oka Ruto (@locaoka666), president of the Occult Club. Make the club members “disappear” and then frame her. She seems like a creepy piece of shit that would kill her friends for some type of Satanic ritual or something. Make it believable. My advice is be as over the top as possible. There is nothing like your run-of-the-mill psychotic physic. _  
>  _**info_chan6** : Next is Ogazumu Seiko, Senpai’s scheduled sub for the end of January because his homeroom teacher is going on maternity leave. She’s been making obvious innuendos to Senpai ever since last semester when she subbed and I’m sure it will get worse the next time she comes. Don’t harm her since she’s not staying at the school forever. Best to play matchmaker and seduce her and let her carry out her little perverted schoolboy fantasies with someone else until she leaves._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Seventh is Akabara Murasa (@bloodyrose79), the classic juvenile delinquent. She has a tight group of dangerous friends and they will definitely all be on edge at this point in time. Make sure you pay attention to the school atmosphere. I know you two can’t give two shits about anybody else even if you tried, but the school is everything. Literally everything. Pay attention. Pay attention. Pay attention. I recommend getting as much dirt on her as possible and then reporting it to the headmaster to get her expelled, or at the most suspended._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Eighth is Oroka Kuga. She has been filling in for the nurse since the last week of school before break and will be returning again in February. Senpai has to frequent the nurse since he has to take medication on the regular, so a nice little kidnap would be in order. Take her syringes, knock her out, and punish her for pervert fantasies too._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Ninth is Senpai’s little sister, Yamada Imouto (@imouto1984). I don’t know if she lusts after her brother or not, but it’s quite obvious that she’s obsessed with him and doesn’t want him dating. He’s practically all she ever talks about in her chats. I’m saving her for last because killing her so early on would crush poor Senpai’s heart and we don’t want that. Making a fake suicide would be perfect._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Lastly, the Student Council president, Akumu Shaneru (@chanelvintage). Her father would probably have taken out of school by now. I mean, he's already a paranoid freak as it is since your mom's reign of terror, but I recommend dragging her out of her safe little haven and doing a good old classic hanging right in front of the building. At this point, who gives a shit about the atmosphere, right?_  
>  _**yandere_kun** : right._

 ❀

Ayano and Yande lied in bed together. They often slept together when their parents were gone (also often). There was a deep connection between the two twins that they could never explain. Yande absentmindedly rubbed his fingers across his sister’s shoulder. He could just make out her creamy skin from the moonlight of her window. She wore one of his dark T-shirts that came down to her knees and her bare legs entangled with his. He used to express concerns about how close they were. They literally shared everything, even intimate moments like this that should “only be expressed between two lovers.” But if she didn’t care – and she hardly cared about anything as it was – then he decided he shouldn’t either.

She fiddled with her phone. He could feel the cold metal touch his arm and make his hairs stand on end. “How're you feeling?” He asked her. She shrugged. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that she was looking at Senpai’s profile. He had already checked it before going to bed. Their love had posted a picture of Osana posing in a skimpy bikini on the shore side while Imouto built a sandcastle beside her. Envy nipped at their heartstrings when they first saw the photo.

Oh well. It wouldn’t last for long.

Yande pressed a long kiss against his sister’s forehead before he pulled the covers over the both of them. “They’re not gonna know what hit them.” She silently nodded in agreement. Akademi High School was definitely going to be turned upside down after winter break. And they could both sleep easy on that thought.

 ❀

Info-chan didn’t message them the morning of their first day back to school.

Yande took his sister’s hair out of its ponytail and unpinned her bangs so they could swoosh freely across her forehead. She blinked at him, but didn’t put her hair up again. He had been jittery when they bathed together and she managed to calm him down with some soothing touches and looks, such as now.

It was finally show time. After a long week of planning, they were definitely ready. It was time to show that the Aishi twins would do anything in the name of love.

Yande placed a box cutter and a screwdriver into the folds of his backpack as his sister tucked a knife into her skirt pocket and a pair of their mother’s sharp sewing scissors into her bento box.

He touched her hand before they left. For strength, he convinced himself. Maybe reassurance too. If she was ready, he was ready too.

They hopped on their bikes and rode to school.


	2. Look Ma, No Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 95%

Ayano scrolled through Osana’s BubblegumChum profile. Nothing too interesting. She looked like another basic girl who frequented the beach. She wasn’t involved or interested in any major clubs or school activities and she seemed to have a majority of male friends judging from the overwhelming amount of pictures with other boys (even boys that Ayano figured were too old for high school). She had posted a picture of her collection of pink detention slips from how many times she had broken school rules from dyeing her hair and using nail polish outside of the regulated colors.

“Smile, Yan-chan,” Yande whispered. She glanced up at him, her eyes blank. He saw that expression a million times. He only raised an eyebrow and smiled himself. She was actually the one who had to coach him on how to smile. When they were younger he showed too much teeth and his eyes were too wide. Hers were always natural. He never understood how because he always thought of himself as the more emotional of the pair. Sure, he had his dark tendencies, but he tried his best to not present himself as a blank slate all the time like she did.

She smiled and her eyes immediately brightened. Yande always thought that his sister was pretty when she smiled, even if it was never genuine. He smiled also – _“Careful not to show your gums. Let your eyes crinkle. Makes it more natural.”_ – and slung his arm over his sister’s shoulder as he looked down at her phone. Walking through the school gates was like the curtain coming up for a play for them, especially today. Today was the beginning to the longest show of their lives. The curtain may never come down again. Yande felt a tinge of nervousness pulse through his heart. Ayano felt nothing.

“Info said that she waits out by the first tree every morning,” Yande whispered. Ayano looked over. Osana was there with her hair freshly dyed an orange gradient and held up by cherry blossom pins. They were all quite early. Perfect.

The sun was shining and the weather had warmed up. It was almost sad that the Aishi twins were going to fuck up such a beautiful morning.

Yande winked at his sister before she walked to the building. He headed towards Osana and pulled out his phone for a second. It was merely a ploy, but it actually buzzed with a message. 

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ tue. – 06.jan.98 / 06:52 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan7** : introduce yourself! she doesn’t know you, but im sure shed like to get to know u_  
>  _**info_chan7** : try not to be too creepy too_  
>  _**info_chan7** : whoooa calm that smile down, kiddo. ;) youre a cute guy when you genuinely try to look happy. CHILL._

Yande only raised an eyebrow. It didn’t go amiss that the username contained the number seven instead of the familiar number six. It was his fault for not setting his profile to private so he could check all chat requests instead of being automatically accepted into them. “Info-chan” was also acting differently. Nicer? Not as curt? Perhaps those were the right words. Oh well. He internally shrugged. Maybe this “Info-chan” character had a change of heart while ignoring him and his sister on the first day back.

Yande smiled – perfect lip-to-teeth ratio – and leaned his back against the tree next to Osana. She overwhelmingly smelled of cherry blossoms. But one couldn’t let such a sweet scent wrap them up in intoxication so quickly—there was a feisty and certainly bitter girl underneath all of that saccharine perfume.

She glared up at him from underneath her long, fake eyelashes and blinked a couple of times before snapping her phone shut and crossing her arms across her small chest. “Um, excuse me, can I help you?”

He flashed his smile directly at her. It sent a tingle up his spine to see someone captivated by his “charms.” She certainly was. She blinked again, almost took a step back, and he could hear her breath hitch. Yande wasn’t handsomer than Senpai – in fact, he felt like he paled in comparison to the guy – but at least his looks were decent enough could get him somewhere. His mother had always called him a handsome boy. Now it was time to put his skills to the test.

“No, I just wanted to say ‘hi.’ So,” he shrugged, “hi.” He waved too. He watched her scrutinize him for a second before she clasped her hands behind her back and smiled.

“Hiya. You’re that Aishi twin, aren’t you?” He nodded. “Heard you two were creepy little sociopaths who never talk to anybody, but I guess not. You know, it’s not good to believe in hearsay.” She glanced at her phone for a moment and shrugged. “Only small people talk about other people, you know?”

“Yeah, I get what you mean.” He shrugged again. “It’s just that, me and my sister just started going to this school, so we were sort of forced to be the odd ones out for a while. Took us a long time to, uh, _test the waters_ , I guess you could say, but she said that it’d be a good idea if we started socializing and making friends, so I thought I’d start with the cutest girl I saw.” He winked at her. He felt vile when her smile turned something sheepish. “You.”

She puffed her cheeks to try and stop her blush. She was really a cute girl in Yande’s eyes. Maybe she deserved better. He made sure to control his grin as she brushed arms with him and they hashed out every flirty remark underneath the sun until the bell tolled.

❀

Yande wanted nothing more than to take Osana’s precious little neck in between his fingers and squeeze. He wanted to scratch and peel off her skin until he could see her pretty little windpipe, snatch it out, and wrap the wet strands around his fingers like yarn. He always wondered what she tasted like. Now he didn’t have to wait.

He licked across her throat, the dip of her collarbone, and squeezed around her waist. She felt different. Her hips were smaller than his twin’s and her skin felt more papery, more fragile.

He pressed her up against the bathroom wall. Fantasies of knocking her head against the tile and watching redness splatter across the white cluttered his mind. He opted to just kiss and bite and lick and trace along her bones instead. Her cheekbones, her jaw, nothing went amiss.

She was clawing into his jacket. He wanted to frown and snap her wrists in half like they were candy bars. Ayano had spent so much time ironing their uniforms last night while they went over how they were going to off Osana.

Ayano showed him how it was done. He sat on her bed quietly, waiting for her to change. His sister’s skin was something to envy over. The gene of soft, creamy perfection that their mother inherited passed on to them, but Yande had always found himself staring at his father when he was younger. His father’s skin was naturally tanned and freckled from growing up by the beach. Yande always wanted to trace along the man’s skin and map out constellations.

He studied the familiar smooth curves of Ayano’s back as she took off her uniform and unclasped her bra. She discarded her skirt into the corner and sashayed over to him (she always muttered, “I don’t move my hips on purpose,” whenever he mentioned it) and held her hand out to him. He had looked in confusion for a moment, eyes glued to her clean nails and delicate fingers, then up her arm to her shoulders, to her breasts.

She gestured her hand again, and it came to his mind that he was holding her pajamas of the night: a T-shirt, their father’s, from a now closed-down seaside restaurant featuring an abstract painting of an octopus being gutted open. When he asked she had quietly said that she appreciated the cartoonish gore on the shirt. Bright red paint spilled forth from the octopus’ orifices, especially its eyes. The shirt came down to Ayano’s knees, shielding her pale thighs from him and the rest of the world.

She was almost cautious with her movements. Her long fingernails merely brushed against his skin before she settled herself on his lap. His body released a sigh upon contact. She was so light. He felt like if he took their mother’s good kitchen knife or their father’s family sword off the wall and sliced her down the middle, all he would receive were two perfectly hollow halves.

And so he channeled Ayano’s touches onto Osana. If Osana wasn’t moaning like a bitch in heat then she probably would’ve stepped back and noticed that his touches were cold and calculated. Every bite, every stroke. Especially when he slid his hands up her ( _too thin, too thin_ ) thighs – which, lucky him, no leggings today – and pulled down her panties. He was improvising. It was certainly acting when he parted her and rubbed his fingers against her clit until she literally had to bite into his shoulder to quiet herself.

Ayano had stopped him when his cold fingertips pulled up the hem of the too-large shirt and started exploring up her ( _perfect, perfectly sized_ ) thighs. She looked at him in the eye and he could hear the moment she stopped breathing. She bit her lip for a split second before she climbed off of him and left. She slammed the door behind her. He didn’t ask where she was going or bothered to chase after her and he would never admit that it hurt to sleep alone that night.

“Ah, ah, Yan-kun, mm, you’re so good at this,” Osana moaned. He chuckled and could only sigh. He wasn’t getting off on this, at least, not mentally. His mind still drew back to Ayano. Ayano was near the definition of perfection in his mind and Osana certainly was not. He didn’t want some random broad screaming in his ear while he jammed his fingers inside of her in the boys’ bathroom. No. He deserved better. He deserved Senpai. Senpai wasn’t near perfection, he _was_ perfection.

Yande accidentally let out a growl at the thought of Senpai. _Senpai. Senpai. Senpai._ The boy who never notices him. Yamada Taro was probably waking up right now, enjoying his extended winter vacation. Maybe Osana was still going to “cheat” on him and confess to Senpai when he came back at the end of the week. Another low sound dragged out of his throat at that – _Senpai was his_ – and Osana almost jolted him out of his thoughts with another loud squeal. He pressed his nose against her neck, moist with sweat, as she came, her entire small body shaking against his stronger, much larger one. The difference in their sizes could not go unnoticed. He felt like he could only wrap his middle finger and thumb around her tiny neck and snap it in half without any effort.

He felt her wetness drip down in between his fingers as she pressed her lips against the side of his face, his neck, his jaw. He didn’t even register the affection. “Mm, you sure know how to show a girl a good time, huh?” He kissed her again, bit her glossy lips to shut her up. She liked to talk. She liked to hear herself talk. Senpai’s voice was soothing and quiet. Ayano only spoke when spoken to.

“Wanna come to my house tonight?” Here was the deal breaker. He treated her with a gentler kiss. “We can have more fun there. My parents aren’t home and Yan-chan should be out tonight.” She giggled and kissed him again and again, like she was receiving some type of reward and not a death sentence.

“I definitely will be coming over—emphasis on _coming_.” She pouted suddenly. The girl could flip through moods like she had some type of on-and-off switch implemented in her brain. It annoyed Yande to no end. He was going to have fun pulling her teeth and plucking the skin off her lips so she could never smile or frown again. “Ugh, now I have to run to the gym and take a bath and change into my spare clothes before class starts.” She pushed him off of her and smacked his chest. “My panties are all wet and you ripped my shirt, Yan-kun!”

He forced himself to smirk and to gratify the “cockiness” that attracted her in the first place. “You’re welcome.” He winked. She kissed him again – all messy, all tongue, Senpai probably didn’t kiss like that – before she skipped away. He let his smirk falter and wilt once he heard the door close.

He washed his hands over and over again until his skin rubbed red and raw. He wondered how many other unsanitary fingers had already fucked her down there before.

❀

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ thu. – 08.jan.98 / 07:01 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan7** : wow only took two days and youre already fingering her in the bathroom._  
>  _**info_chan7** : must be sad to be so fast. :(_  
>  _**yandere_kun** : shut up._  
>  _**info_chan7** : i saw u try not to laugh. (｀◕‸◕´+)_

❀

Ayano was actually mildly popular in the Music Club and she wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing. Everyone was attracted to her “personality.” She was easy to be around and people loved talking to her. If her brother and mother could see her now, they would be downright flabbergasted. She had mastered the skill of feigning interest in others. She couldn’t walk around torn between looking downright psychotic and family-friendly like her brother used to before she trained him proper.

“See you at tomorrow’s practice, Yan-chan!” A boy called out. She flashed a smile towards him as she took out the trunk for her cello.

“See ya!” She waved.

“And don’t forget that the concert’s after school tomorrow!” Somebody else said.

“I won’t!” She called back. She was finally allowed to stop. Good. Her cheeks hurt from smiling. Who knew that posing as a nice music student could be such a pain in the ass?

She pretended to pack up for a bit longer. It was around the time when the teachers were retiring for the night and the students returned home from their clubs. She lifted her cello into its trunk and brought it up on its wheels before she put on her backpack and headed out. The meeting spot was the cafeteria. The building was never locked and no clubs met there.

She felt an actual tinge of doubt. No one was watching her from the windows, Info-chan had assured her of that, and if someone was then it would just look like a music student going to the supply closet to get a spare bow or string for their instrument before heading home. She knew she was safe, she wasn’t doubtful of that. It was Yande she was worried about. She wasn’t sure how he would pull off bringing that tacky girl to the cafeteria after school.

She shook her head and stopped herself as she opened the door. Her brother had doubted her many, many times before, but she has never doubted him, and she was not going to start now. She carried her case into the room. Everything was painted orange from the late sun.

She rolled her trunk all the way to the supply closet and stopped for a moment. There were moans coming from the inside. Her brother had vividly described his interaction with Osana during lunch. They already had their fun in the morning in the bathroom, they didn’t need any more.

She knocked on the door in the rhythm that her and her brother had practiced. It opened immediately. They both had hickeys decorating their skin and disheveled clothes. One look in Yande’s eyes and Ayano knew that she was his savior.

Osana backed off of him and tried to button up her shirt. “What the fu—why’s your sister here? Tell her to get out, we were having a moment!” Yande could stop the act now. He could let out a steady breath into the atmosphere – _finally_. Osana swiveled her head back and forth between the two, eyes wide. She clutched her shirtfront to her chest and took a step back against the wall, bumping into the rack of cleaning supplies behind her. “Wh-What the fuck is going on? Why the hell are you two staring at me like that?” Her eyes were tearing up and she let out a frustrated huff. “Yan-kun, j-just fucking _stop_ that, right now! You’re scaring me!”

Ayano closed the door with her foot and opened up her trunk. Yande took Osana by her arms and pushed her towards it. She fought tooth and nail against him, screaming all the way. He covered her pitiful little mouth with his hand. “Stop screaming. Nobody’s coming to save you,” he muttered in her ear. He nodded his head toward his sister. She took out the duct tape from home. Bringing a screwdriver and box cutter to school on the first day back had only proven to them that murder was easy, but getting away with it was not.

She would have smiled with glee if she could help it. She tied Osana’s wrists and ankles together and so that her brother could shove the girl into the case next to her cello.

Their fellow classmate looked up at them with tears and mascara spilling down her cheeks. It looked like her false eyelashes were about to detach from her eyelids too. Yande flashed her a smirk before he shut the case tightly.

He took the back of his sister’s trunk and helped her carry it out of the cafeteria. They waved to a couple of lingering students and a passing by teacher. The woman cooed over how nice it was to see Yande helping his sister out. He only smiled along and thanked her.

She walked his bicycle along the way as he pushed the trunk. Whimpers were coming from inside. She knocked her foot against it and the noise stopped immediately. “Did you get a message from Info-chan but under a different username?”

Ayano shook her head. “Might have not been Info then.”

“No, it was her. She was sti—”

“’Her?’”

Yande blinked. He almost lost his grip on the trunk. “Huh? Did I say something wrong?”

“How are you so sure that Info-chan is female?”

“Well, ‘chan’ and the pink username in the chat sort of gives it away, I guess.”

“Doesn’t mean anything.”

He chuckled. The sound was always hollow, like a ventriloquist tiredly speaking through their dummy. “Didn’t mean to offend you, Yan, but _they_ sent me a message under a username with a number seven instead of a six. I was just wondering if you got one too.” She shook her head. “Hm. I’m pretty sure it was Info, but they were being… nicer to me? I’m not sure if that’s the right word. I don’t know. They were being a lot more playful.”

“Might have not been Info then,” Ayano repeated. The Aishi home was only a few blocks away. The evening waves were so tranquil and the sky was so bright and clear. Spring was coming quick and it was going to be welcomed with open arms.

“What, you think that there’s seven other Info’s or something?” Ayano shrugged. “Ugh, you’re so unhelpful sometimes, Yan.”

“Sorry.”

“No you’re not. You’re never sorry. _We’re_ never sorry.” She just took out her key.

She closed the curtains and didn’t bother turning on the lights. Yande popped the joints in his elbows and cracked his back. She still had the audacity to shiver with every sickening pop her brother made. She knew that when he was about to fully invest and enjoy something then he had to crack his joints to “prepare himself.” She could hear him laugh again. “Something wrong, Yan-chan?” He must have been watching for her reaction. He was all about watching. Eyes. He had carefully observed the way her shoulders automatically trembled with each crack. He knew how much she liked it. How much it reminded her of the sound a brittle bone made before it broke.

He unlocked the case and took Osana out. She was still sobbing and her makeup was a smeared mess. He gathered the girl up in his arms and tilted his head to the basement door. Ayano followed after and made sure to close the door behind them.

Their father had stolen the life of the basement when he left. The place had been stacked to the brim with boxes upon boxes of pure _stuff_ that was only their father’s. Their father was the closest thing they knew to a hoarder. He just loved possessions. He loved calling things his own. Maybe the reason why he left was because he could never call their mother his. She was always stronger than him. Faster, too.

Now the basement was absolutely vacant. Their mother didn’t have anything. Sure, she had decorated the house upstairs for visitors, but the basement remained cold and empty. Like them. The Aishi twins and their mother were just alike that way. They were glistening red cars without any engines under the hood.

The heater never reached the downstairs. The cooled air chilled through their socks and Yande could feel Osana shake against his chest. He dropped her down on the cold floor tiles and stood over her with another satisfied smirk.

He ripped the tape from her mouth. She hissed in pain. “Aishi Yande, what the fuck is wrong with you? Shit, I should’ve listened to what everybody said. You and your creepy ass sister are _fucking psychopaths_! I never should’ve let you touch me!” She shook again. “P-Please… p-p-please don’t hurt me, please.” Yande grabbed her by one of her ponytails and forced her up into somewhat of a seated position. She gasped and tried to pull away from him. The girl was weak. He was strong. He thrived off of this kind of exchange.

He pulled the pretty little clips from her hair and tossed them aside. Ponytails were for stupid little girls, and Osana was much too old for such childishness. Her long hair cascaded down her back and over her face, but he moved her bangs aside. She had such pretty eyes. They were so captivating. She should know as much. “You have pretty eyes, Osana-chan,” he whispered. He swore he hear his sister sigh from the corner of the room. He peeled off her false lashes and tossed them aside. “Hm, look at this,” he prodded at the tracks of dripped mascara on her cheeks. “Should’ve went waterproof today, eh?” He faced his sister. “Yan-chan, get me a washcloth.”

She only nodded and went to the basement bathroom. The sound of the water running echoed throughout the room. Osana still shriveled and whimpered. He tugged on her hair. She whined and still tried to back away from him. He pulled harder until she fell over. “Strong scalp,” he murmured to himself. He rolled her over to her backside with his foot. “I had a feeling you’d be into your hair being pulled.”

The water stopped running. He looked up to find Ayano standing in the doorway, watching them, washcloth dripping water on the floor. He only beckoned his hand toward her, facing back towards Osana. His sister obediently walked over and hand him the cloth. He held down Osana’s shoulders as he washed the ruined makeup from her eyes, her cheeks, and her chin even. “Better,” he muttered. She certainly looked much better, but she was no Senpai, and she certainly was nothing compared to Ayano in his eyes, but she looked better without so many… _lies_ masking her face. She looked much more innocent. Less bitchy. Younger even.

He tossed the cloth aside. If he could feel shame then perhaps he would’ve blushed and sputtered from being caught staring at Osana’s face by his sister, but since he did not, he only continued to look. He took his thumb and traced along her cheekbones, following down to her chin, towards her lips. She shivered. “G-Get off me, y-y-you fucking creep!” She nipped at his finger. He could only laugh.

“You’re funny. I haven’t laughed this much in a long time.” He took her by the hair again and dragged her to the pole that supported the basement. He cocked his head toward his sister again. Perhaps twin telepathy was real. She took out the set of ropes they had found in their parent’s bedroom – _who knew what those were for_ – and arranged them properly.

Osana kicked and wriggled against her. “Help me!” She screamed suddenly. “Somebody help me! Help me, please! HELP!”

Yande clicked his tongue. “Our mother wasn’t dumb enough to take our father down to a basement that wasn’t soundproof, you know.” He knocked his hand against the wall for emphasis. “She wasn’t stupid. And neither are we.” He crouched down to her level. She tried to turn away again. It was getting annoying. She had nowhere to go, nowhere to turn to. He grabbed her by the neck – _ooh, she was sweating and shaking under his palm_ – and forced her to look at him. Look at him in the eye with her pretty ones. Pretty ones that were too good for a girl like her. “I can’t wait to cut these out,” he whispered.

He stood up again. “But you’re in luck.” Her head snapped up. It must have been the sudden change in his tone that scared her. He needed to work on that. He didn’t have complete control over every single nuance in body like Ayano seemed too. Her voice was always quiet, calm, controlled and only changed when need be, but sometimes he would shift too quickly from a cold tone to an excited one without even realizing it. He took a second to calm himself down. “We’ll deal with you after school tomorrow. We have…” He glanced at his sister. She only shrugged. “We have other things to deal with first. You know, damage control type stuff.”

They turned towards the door. “Wait!” Ayano sighed and left. Yande, hand on the top of the railing, turned back. “Yan-kun, wait!” He only raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t walking back down. She wasn’t his master. “Bu-But my parents! They’re gonna notice that I’m missing. And I—And I-I have to meet Taro at the beach this weekend and my sister’s coming over and I—”

“Shut up!” He barked.

His sister was always so calm, cool, and collected. Why couldn’t he be the same? Why couldn’t he control his temper? Why couldn’t he ignore his impulses? He always gave into temptation. It was all over his knuckles now. Osana was screaming again. Shit. He could’ve broken her nose. He had to leave the basement before he completely snapped on her.

Yande locked the basement door behind him and tossed the key on the table. Ayano was holding her cellphone, but she was focused on him. “What?” He asked.

“Your hand.” He looked down at his hand.

“I didn’t mean to hit her.”

“Of course not.”

“Seriously. She kept yelling at me about how she has to visit Senpai tomorrow and all this crap about her parents like we’re stupid or something. We double-checked and made sure of everything. Info wouldn’t just let us take her on any random day of the week. Everything was planned out.” He leaned against the wall. “ _Everything single thing_ was planned out. Did she really think that we didn’t know her parents are on vacation for the rest of the month and that her sister just left yesterday and that Senpai is not getting back from vacation until the end of the week? Why would she lie to us like we’re a bunch of simpletons?”

“Stop hitting the wall.”

He unclenched his fists. “Sorry.”

“No you’re not. You’re never sorry. We’re never sorry.”

“Way to throw my words back at me.” He rubbed his hand over his bloodied knuckles. “Why were you looking at your phone? Did Info message you?” She shook her head.

“No. Dad. He called.”

“Oh.” He got off the wall and walked toward her. “What’d he say?”

“He’s on his way to America right now.”

“So he’s not coming back?”

“No.”

“Oh. Okay.” He headed toward the kitchen. Maybe he could be nice and get Osana an icepack for her face. Info would be pissed to see any damaged goods once the camera arrived tomorrow. Oh well. At least Yande and Ayano managed to get the girl in the first place. Info should be proud of them. He felt as though the seventh would have been impressed by anything, but the sixth hadn’t messaged them in so long.

He laid the icepack on his own knuckles and slammed the freezer shut.

❀

Ayano could finally let out a relieved breath come Friday. She woke up earlier than usual. The skies were still dark outside and the nighttime crickets were still chirping. She walked to her dresser under a bath of light from the moon and stars. The effects of sleepiness were slowly wearing off.

She stopped herself from pulling her hair up into a ponytail. Yande came to mind. He had taken to his room for the second night in a row. She pressed her palms against her dresser – the cool wood made her arms break out into goose bumps – and looked in the mirror. Her hair was getting even longer. She couldn’t tell when she just threw it up in a ponytail all the time.

The crickets were quieting down until everything was completely silent. She was so used to the sound of her brother’s soft breaths when he slept and his stretches when he woke up. How he would always told her “good morning” and leave to warm a bath for the both of them. Now: deafening silence.

She grabbed the front of her shirt. She had snuck it from Yande’s room while he ate dinner. She found herself craving his smell ever since it disappeared from her pillow. She sighed. She needed him.

Her bare toes curled into her feet as she walked on the nearly icy wood of the hallway. It felt like a long walk towards her twin’s room. Like each step forward was only a step back.

There were soft sounds coming from the room. She pressed her ear against the door. It didn’t sound like he was speaking to anyone. There was no chance that he untied Osana and had brought her up to his room. She turned the knob. Who knew? Her brother was no stranger to doing odd and irrational things.

The curtains were drawn and the moon’s light shone upon him. She could see him covered to the neck in blankets. He was moving underneath the sheets. She was no stranger to this. There was the occasional time when he would turn his back to her when they slept together and she would patiently wait for him to relieve himself so she could go back to sleep. He stopped now, much to her shock. It wasn’t like they haven’t been through this before.

“Yan?” He called out. She walked over to him instead of answering. He stopped his ministrations and reached for his phone. He squinted at the sudden harsh light. “What’s wrong? We have another hour.”

“I missed you.”

“Oh yeah?” He reached out his arm toward her. “Took you long enough to admit it.”

“Shut up.”

“Ah, Yan-chan, you’re so mean to me.” He wrapped her up in his arms underneath the covers. “You wouldn’t be so lonely if you were nicer.”

“I guess.” He pressed his nose against her neck. She could feel that his breaths were still ragged and his heartbeat was only quickening as she pressed back against him. She closed her eyes and leaned into his arms. “You can finish.”

“Thank you.” He reached one arm down and touched her hip cautiously. “Do you mind?” She had before, and she still did, but…

“Who are you thinking of?”

He paused. She felt his breath stop in a split second, before he answered, “Senpai.”

“Lie.”

“You.”

“No you weren’t.” He sighed. She could still feel his hardness against her backside. “You were thinking of her.”

“She was… she was so pretty with blood all over her face, I couldn’t help myself.” She pressed back against him. “Ooh, you’re jealous.”

“I’m not. I don’t get jealous.”

“Lie.” He grinded against her slightly and sighed. “The only reason why we’re doing all of this is because we’re jealous.” She chose to ignore that and press back against him instead. “Stop. I can’t make you do something you don’t want to do.” He hissed into her skin. “Save yourself for Senpai.”

“Okay.”

“Go back to sleep. I’ll wake you up.”

Yande was too good to her.

❀

Osana’s absence wasn’t noticed around the school just yet.

Ayano made sure to thoroughly clean her trunk before she brought it back to school. She laughed with her “friends” in orchestra and perfectly did her part in the concert. Yande clapped along in the audience.

He leaned in her ear as he took her cello and whispered, “Info said that the camera and the saw just arrived to the house.” She nodded and put on her false smile.

There might have been an actual pep to her step on the way out the building.

❀

Yande left Ayano alone with Osana. It felt like it would take forever to make the girl stop talking. Ayano’s phone buzzed. She turned away from Osana to look at it. 

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ fri. – 09.jan.98 / 17:50 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan8** : You will be sending the video to me._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Make sure the angle is nice. I don’t want you two to completely chop the girl up into fun-sized pieces before you notice that the camera wasn’t even recording or was facing the wrong way._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Have I told you that I like you?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : no. you hvaent._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Wow. Can you type properly for once?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : this keyboards too small. sorry_  
>  _**info_chan8** : Well, I like you more than your brother. You’re more serious. You’re more driven. I like that._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : whats the difference between you, info-chan 6 and 7?_  
>  _**info_chan8** : Ah, you caught on._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Well, Info-6 is like the glue that holds us together while 7 and I are on opposite sides of the scale. I like to think of it this way -- Buddhist psychology says that there are three personality types: the greedy type (the person who knows what they want), the angry type (the person who focuses on what’s wrong), and the deluded type (the muddled, spaced out person). 6 is the greedy type, I’m the angry type, and 7 is the deluded type. 7 doesn’t like you at all, but loves your brother. And I don’t like your brother at all, but I like you. And 6 doesn’t really care._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : how interesting._  
>  _**info_chan8** : You see that? That’s the reason why I like you so much, Yan-chan. Our personalities fit together like wasabi on sushi._

She pocketed her phone when Yande came back downstairs. He set the camera up and handed her the saw. “Ready?” She could feel her heartbeat accelerate as she held the circular saw. The way it fit in her palm just felt right. It was snug.

Osana banged her head against the pole trying to back away. “Get that thing away from me you fucking psycho!!” She kicked at Ayano the best she could, but her efforts were fruitless.

Ayano had often accidentally given herself paper cuts when she was younger and she had once almost slashed her wrists with her mother’s good kitchen knife just to see what it felt like before her brother stopped her. She fell and sliced her knees open multiple times when the training wheels had been taken off her bicycle.

She wondered how Osana felt when she dragged the saw against her skin. It sliced so nicely. Like a knife carving into a stick of butter. Osana’s skin cut open so easily. It was a sight to see.

Osana had not experienced true coldness until the saw touched her skin. The blade had been shipped directly from a snowy northern factory straight to the Aishi home under Info-chan’s supervision. Her eyes widened upon the first pierce on her skin. That was the look Yande craved. Ayano just wanted to see the metal teeth cut and slice and tear the girl into nothing but meaty clumps.

She couldn’t go slowly like Info-chan had wanted once she got started. Everything was like a reddened wet dream for her. Wet. She felt the warm wetness of Osana’s blood spray across her skin, stain her white uniform shirt. It was perfect. This was her element. Cutting off the girl’s hands from the wrists was the most exhilarating thing that she had ever experienced.

Her screams were like a song – a symphony even. More mellifluous than the violins and the cellos and the violas during the concert. The trumpets blew when she took the saw and split the girl down the middle. She managed to find her sanity long enough to lift the girl’s skirt up so she could see the blood spill and stain Osana’s panties as she cut up from her cunt to her navel. Her underwear was already stained beforehand. Aw. She wet herself. Poor girl.

She ran over Osana’s stomach again. Guts spilled out of her so cleanly, so nicely, like how a glass of milk spilled onto the floor when it was knocked over by a careless elbow. Ayano had to force herself to stop when she reached the girl’s neck. Her vision was tinting black. She blinked a few times, trying to calm herself, but she found her hands digging into the girl’s opened stomach. The organs were so bright, like candy. Her blood was brighter than licorice and her intestines were pinker than bubblegum. Breathtaking.

Yande was pulling her back. She automatically dropped the saw. He said that he was only going to pull her out before things got too bad. She had blacked out once when she got too excited cutting into a still-bloody piece of meat while preparing dinner; things turned “bad” easily.

She could feel her body twitching, twitching, twitching all over the place. Her heart felt like it was about to explode at any moment. She could still feel the girl in her hands, all slick and warm. The pool of blood was underneath her feet, staining her socks. She could feel the sick stickiness on her feet.

Her brother’s mouth was moving. She had to tune in her ears to the sound of his voice over the pounding of her heart. She had to force herself to read his lips. She could barely even see him. “Can I?” He was asking. She couldn’t even speak. She just nodded.

He picked up where she left off, cutting across Osana’s neck. The girl had already bled out and he was ready to take things too far. He killed her while she was dead. He must have gone across her neck a million times until he was sure that the bone split completely in half. He picked her up by her hair. Too bad she wasn’t alive to moan and whimper anymore. She had a nice voice when she wasn’t yelling or complaining.

He pulled open her eyelids. Ooh, those eyes were even prettier when they were glossed over like that. He liked her like this, with blood dripping down her chin instead of mascara. And he liked the sound that her flesh made when it disconnected from her skin – it was an understatement to say that shivers went down his spine – and he managed to drag out a bit of her esophagus before he tugged and snagged it against the shards of her neck.

He ran his thumbs over her lips and parted them. She couldn’t slap him and back away anymore. Now he kissed her. Now he enjoyed it. Now he liked her. Why couldn’t she have been so willing and pliant all along? Maybe they could’ve kept her in the basement longer.

Oh well. So it goes.

❀

It took hours to mop up the blood and post-mortem excrement. He wanted to keep it there at first. Death looked so nice against the gray tiles, but the basement could only block out noise, not odors, and the last thing they needed was the neighbors to throw them under the bus.

He had to force Ayano into the corner of the room as he mopped and discarded the girl’s organs into separate garbage bags. That was another area where he was stronger than his sister. He didn’t get so worked up over blood like she did to the point of passing out.

Sure, he kissed a dead girl on the mouth, but that didn’t mean anything.

He saw Ayano’s phone buzz out of the corner of his eye. She didn’t move to answer it. She had been staring straight ahead ever since he had pulled her away. He wiped his hand across his pants before he picked it up.

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ fri. – 09.jan.98 / 20:02 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan8** : You were so beautiful when you started playing with her organs like that. Well done. You know how hard it is to make me proud?_

He snapped the phone back shut and threw it by her leg. Looks like they found their eighth Info-chan. He wasn’t sure if he liked this one.

❀

The bathwater was freezing that morning.

Ayano still stepped inside though. Yande hadn’t even put the scented bubble bath that he was so fond of inside, and he especially indulged in bubbles during the weekends.

She pushed the wet hair from her eyes when her brother walked in. “I still have her head and hands downstairs because I don’t wanna leave out too many bags on the curb.” He pulled his pants off and stepped into the tub. “Your clothes have been ‘properly disposed ’ of, too.” He haphazardly splashed water onto the floor. She backed up against the wall.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” He shrugged. “Why?”

“The water’s cold.”

“You must’ve waited too long to get in.”

“I got in right after you filled it.”

“Oh.” He shrugged again. “I must’ve turned the wrong knob by accident.”

“No.”

“It’s not good to be so stubborn.”

She sighed. “Why are you mad at me?”

“I’m not.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No. You never do anything wrong, you know that.”

She sighed. This was going nowhere. She got off of the wall, onto her knees, and settled her body against his leg as she brought her hand to his shoulder, spilling water down his chest. He only blinked up at her. A split second of that unfamiliar anger was on his face again before it went blank. “What did I do?” She tried again.

He grabbed her by the back of her head and pulled her down to his level. “You are my sister. _Mine_. No one else’s. And the only other person I’m willing to give you to is Senpai, and that’s it. Got it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I just didn’t like the way that Info-chan was talking to you.”

“And you tell me not to be jealous.” She went back to her side of the tub. “Hypocrite.”

“Shut up.” She did.

❀

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ sat. – 10.jan.98 / 09:11 ♡  
>  _> group chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan6** : This one took too long. I’m going to have to give you a deadline from now on. Thursday by 18:00 should be doable. No excuses._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : we missed u._  
>  _**info_chan6** : How sweet. Don’t make me vomit._  
>  _**info_chan6** : I thought that you two would like some individual guidance from my friends since they fancy you two so much. Unlike me, they are on the call 24/7 if you need them. So if you ever find yourself stuck in a jam and I’m not available, get in contact with them immediately and they got you._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : ok. got it._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Great video too. I’m really proud of you guys. I knew I chose the right people._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Have fun next week with Sweetie. Don’t get caught._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : we wont._  
>  _**info_chan6** : And go easy on Senpai. His childhood friend is “missing” so he should be troubled from now on. The school too. Don’t be suspicious. If somebody mentions her don’t act all lifeless like you two usually do, show concern, show sympathy. It’s time to pack in the emotion from now on because students will be going missing left, right from here on out._
> 
> ♡ sat. – 10.jan.98 / 09:17 ♡  
>  _– @info_chan6 has now left the chat room! –_


	3. Six Dozen Cream Puffs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 70%

Ayano could feel her brother’s eyes boring into the back of her head. The lead tip of her pencil snapped in half once his staring reached its boiling point. Her handwriting was always so careful. Each stroke of each character had been memorized and utilized to near perfection. Now there was a dark strike through one of her words and she just stared at it. It would’ve been easy to just grab her eraser and rewrite the word, but she didn’t. She turned to her brother instead. He didn’t break his stare even when they locked eyes.

“Yan-chan,” he said. She tilted her head slightly, listening. “How are you gonna transfer from the Music Club to Cooking Club without being suspicious?”

“The Music Club’s last performance will be on the twelfth and Cooking Club officially starts on the same day. It’ll seem like I’m just moving from one club to the next. There shouldn’t be anything suspicious about that.”

“Oh, good.” She nodded and turned back to her paper and the crossed-out word. She could still feel him staring. “Yan-chan,” he called out again. She turned back around. He gave a (fake) wide, cheesy grin. “Hi.” He leaned his head against the pillows on her bed. His hair was skewed up and his clothes were wrinkled. It was Sunday morning, who cared? Ayano did. She always dressed up in the morning, fiddled with her clothes throughout the day, and only let go in the night.

“I’m trying to do my homework.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“Why…” She sighed and set down her pencil. “What’s with the stupid face?”

“Ouch, Yan-chan, that hurt.” He pressed his face into the covers. “I just had a good dream about all the things we’re gonna do to Shiba Sweetie-san.”

“Ah.”

“I see you’re uninterested.” He shrugged. “I just can’t stop thinking about what we did to Osana either.”

“I did.”

“Come here.”

“I’m trying to do my homework,” she repeated.

“It’s Sunday morning, you goody-goody, you got all day to do homework. What’re you even doing?”

“English.”

“Huh?”

“Translating Japanese to English. Did you do your homework?”

“No. What’s the point of learning English if we’re never going to America?”

She stood up then, smoothing down her skirt and the collar of her shirt, and walked over to him. “Is this sudden hate for English because of Dad going to America or just plain ignorance?” The smile wiped off of his face then.

“Come here,” he said again. He sat up on the bed and beckoned his hand toward her. She put a little space between the two of them when she sat. “Don’t talk about him.”

“What do you want to talk about then? Murder in the future or past tense?”

“You. Let’s talk about you.” He touched her hair. He was so unafraid and bold with his touches, while she was always cautious with others, always waiting for permission. They were such opposites it was almost laughable. “No more ponytails.” He took her hair out. Her hands automatically twitched and reached up to straighten it. “And what’s with all the white today? Are you in mourning for Osana? How cute.”

She sighed and folded her hands together. “I don’t need this extra dose of your paternal contempt today.”

“My what?”

“Your, hm, your _daddy issues_.”

“Shut up.” He touched the skin that peeked out from between the top her knee-high socks and the bottom of her skirt. She chose to ignore his pursuits. He did it to get a rise out of her, she assumed. “Question: are we really doing what Info-chan says?”

“We’re not killing Shiba?”

“No, we’re killing her, definitely, but what if we didn’t poison her? That’s boring.”

“We can’t just kidnap everyone and dismember them in our basement. _That_ would be suspicious.”

“Yeah, I know. But I just wanna feel something. Poisoning is a coward move. I want blood, Yan-chan.”

“Let’s stab her with mom’s knife then.”

He squeezed her thigh. “Ah, you know exactly what to say to make a man swoon. You’ll get Senpai in no time.” She could only nod. He patted her leg and sat back on the bed again. “You can go back to your homework now.”

She stared at the crossed-out word on the paper again. She had been translating the words mindlessly, but she really read her work now. She had been interrupted on the family section of the homework and ended up crossing out the English equivalent of the word “brother.”

She erased it and rewrote it properly.

❀

Was it only a natural reaction to tense up all over when two police officers were suddenly at campus? They stood at the gate and stopped every student before they entered. Yande slowly dismounted his bicycle and stared at the officers. They looked all prim and proper in their ironed blue uniforms and dark hats. Ayano nudged his side. “Right,” he muttered. He needed to look unsuspicious – the word of the day.

The shorter officer held his gloved hand up towards them. “Good morning,” he said with a smile. His thick mustache upturned with his grin. The Aishi twins gave him a curt bow. He chuckled as he returned the gesture. “I am Officer Kanon with the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the NPA.” He flashed his badge. Yande eyed the star-like logo for a second before he nodded. “You kids did nothing wrong, don’t worry.” He chuckled again. “I’m just here to ask about a student, Najimi Osana. She was reported missing on Saturday and me and my friend are just here to ask some questions.” He pulled out a small notepad. “When was the last time you remember seeing her, if I might ask?”

“Um, Friday, right?” Yande turned to his sister. She paused as if to think before nodding. “Yeah, on Friday, at the end of the day. We saw her before we walked home.” The officer scribbled something down.

“Can you describe what Najimi-san was like for me?”

“She had this _kogal_ look to her. She liked to dye her hair a lot. Um, she seemed like a very strong girl,” Ayano picked up. “I know that she was friends with Yamada Taro if that might help.”

“Ah, Yan-chan, Yamada-senpai is on vacation though.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right, he is.” She clicked her tongue. “I guess he won’t be all that helpful then. Unless they talked before she left?”

“Yeah, maybe.” He turned back to the officer. “Maybe they talked before he left. She was always on her phone all the time. He might know where she went.”

“What did you say this kid’s name was again?” The officer asked.

“Yamada Taro,” Ayano said, “class 3-2.”

“Thank you. What were your names?”

“Aishi Yande.”

“Aishi Ayano.”

“Oh, are you two siblings?”

“Twins,” Yande said.

“Oh, how nice. I’ve always wanted a twin. Always thought that it’d be fun to have two of me.” He laughed again and tucked his notepad away. “You can go into school now. Have a nice day.”

“You too,” they beckoned to the officer.

❀

Shiba Sweetie was all long legs, soft curves, and warm eyes. Her motherly presence could be felt a mile away. She was too good to be true, Ayano decided. Sweetie had strapped an apron on her the moment she said she wanted to join the club and pulled her into the too-pink kitchen connected to the home economics room.

She had smile lines, but her cheeks were still childishly round. She seemed to be the type to smile unconsciously, as she displayed her pearly whites to Ayano as they set up the kitchen for the rest of the club. “Hm, I feel bad for Najimi-san. I hope they find her soon.”

“Yeah,” Ayano said. _They won’t though._ “I wonder what happened to her.”

“I don’t know. I’m not exactly close friends with her, I mean, she eats my food whenever she can, but we’ve never, like, _really_ talked before, you know?”

“Yeah, me neither.”

“Oh well. Maybe she just ran away or something. I hope she did. It’ll be really bad if she got kidnapped, or… or worse.” The knife in Sweetie’s hand quivered before she set it back down on the cutting board. “But enough with all this depressing talk. The girls are about to be here any second. You can just introduce yourself and sit and eat with us. This is a really easy club. All you have to do is cook and serve food to the school sometimes.”

“That sounds good. I need a break.” They laughed together. Sweetie’s real name wasn’t “Sweetie” of course, but Sumiko, yet Ayano could see how the girl had earned such a sweet nickname. The girl was so sweet, in fact, that Ayano wasn’t sure if her kindness was genuine or not. “I had to do so much for Music Club. I wanted to quit every time I walked into the room.”

“Yeah, it looked like a lot of work. You play the cello, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, I came to a few of the concerts. You were always sitting in the back I think. My brother plays the flute, do you know him?”

“Shiba Sumito?”

“Yup, that’s him! How do you like him?”

“Hm, he’s nothing like you to be honest. You two are completely different people.” Sweetie laughed. She handed Ayano a stack of glass plates.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. Me and Sumi are polar opposites.” She shrugged. “Come on and help me set the table.” They walked over and set down seven plates, napkins, cups, and silverware, all while carefully talking. Sweetie was easy to talk to. It was like a person couldn’t help but fall into conversation with her. “People always come up to me and say, ‘Sweetie, you’re so nice, but your brother’s so mean.’ And I don’t know what to say, like, I’m not supposed to say this, but he has ADHD. He just… _speaks his mind_ , you know? He can’t help it.” The three other girls of the club started entering the room then. Sweetie’s smile widened. “Thank you for helping me out, Yan-chan!”

“You’re welcome.”

“I can’t wait to introduce you to the other girls. They’re gonna love you, I just know it.”

❀

Ayano rolled her sleeves up to the elbow and leaned against the kitchen sink. Her hands were covered in soapsuds that dashed rainbows across her arms in the sinking sunlight. She could just see the police officers going over their notes together. Officer Kanon pinched the edge of his mustache here and there and the other removed his hat every few seconds to scratch at his graying scalp.

“See something interesting?” Ayano reminded herself to jump at the voice. The only person who had skilled themselves in truly scaring her was her brother. He knew how to pop his joints just right to make her skin crawl and to touch her in just the right places to make her squirm away.

“You scared me, Sweetie-chan.” Ayano giggled. “No. Just looking at the police guys.”

“Oh, they’ve been out there all day?” Ayano nodded. Sweetie made a sound and leaned against the sink also. “Do you think that they think one of the students here know where she is?”

Ayano got back to washing the dishes. “What do you mean by that?”

“I just— _ugh_ —I don’t know how to describe it. Maybe somebody knows where she is, and even helped her run away? I can just see her hiding out somewhere on the beach right now and waiting for some boy from Tokyo or something to take her away.” She turned to lean her back against the counter. “I just hope she’s having a good time instead of a bad one.”

“Me too.” Ayano washed the next plate a little too harshly. “She’s probably just run away with some guy over the weekend, yeah.” Ayano recalled back to the conversation the girls had over the table. Osana had proven not to be a popular subject. Sweetie had quickly shut any mentions of the “missing” girl down and brought up something else. Odd how she only wanted to speak about it with Ayano. “Do you think she’s into compensated dating or something?”

“Well, I don’t know about that. Maybe. She seems like the type of girl who wou—let me stop myself there.” Sweetie’s smile wiped off her face for an instant. “I don’t wanna say anything mean about the girl, she’s _missing_. I’m sorry. That was really bad. Forget I said that, please. How are you liking the club so far?”

“It’s nice. The girls are nice and everything’s easy, like you said.”

“Good, good. That’s good.” Sweetie smiled again. “I’m just trying my best to make sure everybody feels like they fit in, you know? I don’t like it when people are left out. Especially you.” She actually got Ayano to pause her actions.

“Me?”

“Yes, well, um…” Sweetie’s plump cheeks flushed over quickly. “I-I mean, uh, I just noticed that when you first came here you and your brother were sort of outcasts, so I’m just happy to see that you two are starting to break out of your shells and making friends.”

Ayano washed, dried, and put away three or so more dishes before she quietly said, “Thank you.”

“No problem! Want me to walk you home?”

“If you want.”

❀

Sweetie was at least a good head taller than Ayano. She left on her lacy headdress and armband as they left school. They talked about nothing really. If Sweetie was the master of small talk, then Ayano could be too.

Buraza Town was small, predictable. The ocean sometimes attracted a traveler here and there, but other than that it always stayed the same. Not much really happened and after graduation a young adult either stayed in the town forever or left as soon as they could. Not much really happened, so Ayano understood if people were enamored with the idea of a girl suddenly going missing. _Not much really happened_ , but Najimi Osana _did_ , and now Ayano was going to suffer the consequences alongside her brother.

Instead of going home, Sweetie took Ayano towards what little of a town they had. She stopped the both of them at a food stand ran by a tiny, older woman and ordered bowls of ramen for the both of them.

Ayano was forced to notice the little things, such as how the breeze swept Sweetie’s short hair across her downy cheeks and forehead and how she excused herself and grew embarrassed every time she accidentally slurped her noodles. Ayano made a show of gulping down her broth after Sweetie’s fourth apology and managed to make the girl snort in between her laughs.

Sweetie gingerly touched her shoulder before she left. Ayano stood by the cart for a while, holding the girl’s emptied bowl. It was glass, similar to the ones that were used in the Cooking Club. There was a heart painted at the bottom of it.

“Thank you,” Ayano told the vender. She slipped in some extra coins to pay for the bowl.

❀

It only took one try for the twins to get the fine art of kidnapping down to a science. Shiba Sweetie was packaged and shipped up the following Wednesday evening right after classes ended. They followed her home this round. Her grandmother, her only guardian, went out to run errands on Wednesday nights and her brother usually wasn’t home anyway, so Sweetie, _being the sweetheart she was_ , cleaned and cooked until they returned home for the evening.

She was quieter than Osana. She didn’t fight back. She didn’t scream, bite at them, and Yande didn’t need to punch her. She only looked down when he pulled off her headband and tugged the ribbons out of her hair.

As Ayano moved to unbutton her uniform top and pull down her socks around midnight, the girl whispered, “I see what happened to Najimi-san now.” The first time she had spoken during her capture.

Yande hissed, “Shut up, _onee-san_ ,” and that was that.

Ayano pulled the girl’s shirt off and pushed it down as far as it could go – only to her elbows because of the restraints. The girl had nice skin. Only a little tanned, but it looked like it could be as creamy as Ayano’s if she stayed out of the sun. She probably liked to eat outside. Her stomach was round and her breasts were well-endowed. She was a pretty girl in a different way, Ayano decided. She traced the handle of her mother’s kitchen knife along the curve of the girl’s belly. She flinched, but didn’t fight.

“Yan-chan, please,” she murmured. Ayano felt a tear drip onto her fingertips. “I thought we were off to a good start. I thought we could…” She laughed a little. The nutrients and proteins were stripped away from the sound and Ayano was left with something unsatisfying and sugar-free. “I thought we could become really good friends.”

Ayano touched the girl’s chin. There was no camera rolling this go around because Info-chan had fully expected for them to just step back and poison the girl. Yande told her that he had received some messages from his personal Info-chan asking him why he was kidnapping Shiba, but they didn’t specifically tell him to stop.

Ayano forced the girl to look her in the eye. “We could have never been friends, Shiba. I can’t make friends.”

Sweetie batted those long, watery eyelashes up at her. Her face wasn’t caked with makeup like Osana’s had been. The only true problem was her clothes. She liked to dress up for the Cooking Club sometimes and she was dressed in her casual, at-home clothes when they had stolen her into the night. Her apron was tossed off somewhere in the corner of the basement. “Why do you say that?” Ayano could feel an actual frown bite at her lips. She had known the girl for about two days, what was going on? She didn’t get attached. That wasn’t her style.

“The psychotic are incapable of making friends.”

“They obviously can, because you’re _my_ friend, Yan-chan.” Ayano glanced off at her brother. His face was frozen in a half-frown and his eyebrow was quirked. His hands were on his hips, but he didn’t say anything to Ayano. She just turned back to their prisoner.

“Do you want me to kiss you?” Sweetie’s eyes widened and more tears streamed down her cheeks. She still had the audacity to blush. Out of the corner of her eye, Ayano could see Yande’s hands move from his hips to behind his back. An explanation was required. One couldn’t just say their thoughts without reason, Ayano knew that. “I know that you were saving your first kiss for the first boy who accepted your confession.” She lowered the knife down slightly. “I’m willing to fulfill that wish if you want.” _Because it’ll never come true this way._

Sweetie tried to look down again, but Ayano held her grip. “T-Thank you, Yan-chan, but y-you don’t need to do that. I’m not, uh, I’m not gay or anything, b-but I appreciate the, um, gesture?”

“I do. You deserve that.” Sweetie was genuinely a sweet girl. It was fun to learn new things. Ayano pressed her lips against the other girl’s. They were soft, plump – as expected. Ayano stopped there. She had granted the girl’s wish – ooh, she was some type of saint now. No. She wasn’t. Saints didn’t plunge knives into their “friend’s” hearts.

No, no. Saints didn’t do that. That’s what demons did. And saints especially didn’t enjoy it.

Skin wasn’t perfect. It was thin. It was tissue. It was protection. Epidermis, dermis, derma – Ayano knew her vocabulary. Skin was made to be scarred, to be broken, to be cut. She twisted the weapon and shuddered from the popping wet sounds it produced, but Sweetie was still there.

Ayano drew the knife out again. Blood painted the blade just the right shade of crimson and was darkening Sweetie’s white bra. The hole in her chest wouldn’t stop gushing blood. It was unreal. Ayano pressed the knife into the same spot again and again and again until she couldn’t breathe, until the girl’s cries of pains turned into spasms, until Yande’s frown turned into a grin.

Ayano weaved in and out of consciousness for a moment, but her brother didn’t pull her back this time. One second she was pulling the knife out, the next she was dragging it completely down the girl’s chest – between her ribs, and next she was looking at her a heart and she just had to cut across the arteries, listen to them snap and seize.

It must have been a mixture of the blood and the sweat on Ayano’s palms, she dropped the knife. It bounced off the girl’s thigh and tumbled on the cold floor. Ayano’s hands were too shaky to pick it back up, but she didn’t need to do anything else. Shiba Sweetie was officially eliminated. Another name to cross off the list.

❀

Yande was pressed against Ayano’s back that night, held her against his front while whispering empty praises into her ear, and she wasn’t sure how to feel about it. “Yan-chan, Yan-chan, Yan-chan,” he muttered. He had made sure that the bathwater wasn’t cold that night. She hardly even noticed. Her eyes had only focused on the murky red-orange of the water and the suds. She had popped most of the bubbles one-by-one with her fingers.

“What?” She said.

“Ah, why’re you so mean?” She didn’t answer that. He continued to press into her side.

“You’ve been touchy lately.” She just wanted to sleep.

“Something wrong with that?”

“No.” He pulled her shirt of the night up to her stomach and trailed his fingers along her thighs and waist. “Stop.” He sighed, but stopped.

“You’re no fun, Yan-chan.” He still held onto her tightly though. Silence passed between them, a familiar comfort. “What’s on your mind?” It was a simple question with a complicated answer.

“Why didn’t she fight back?”

“Yeah, I was kind of confused about that too.” She felt him shrug. “Maybe she just gave up hope or something. I liked it. She didn’t try to bullshit us or anything. Everybody should just shut up and accept their fates.” He snuggled in between her neck and shoulder. “Don’t think about it too much. Just go to sleep.”

❀

Ayano dripped the deadly concoction (that Yande had formulated in his Science Club just for her) into some girl’s cake batter before they all stepped away to look at one of the girl’s new outfits. Ayano complimented her, glanced at her phone, then excused herself mumbling off, “I’m sorry, but something came up at home and I gotta go guys. I bet the cake’s gonna taste great, Hinata-chan,” and walked off as fast as she could.

Oh, it would’ve been joyous to listen to the sounds of them choking, but the promise of safety was better. Framing was easy. Hinata Koharu was infamous for her little incident last year of giving two students food poisoning because of underprepared meat. Now she simply done something wrong with the cake too. The police could have fun with that. Ayano wouldn’t know what happen. She had technically (and quietly) quit Cooking Club the day after Sweetie disappeared ( _“I-It’s just been… It’s just been so hard without her,”_ it was easy to get sympathy points from the counselor) and no one other than the girls knew that she was in the class that night.

Things were just working in Ayano’s favor, but something buzzed in the back of her head as she walked home, shielded in the darkness. She couldn’t put a name on the feeling, and it bothered her.

❀

“Yan-chan, you _did not_ just kill the entire Cooking Club and leave their bodies on campus.”

“No. Kokona wasn’t there that night.”

“Wow. I’m impressed and a little disappointed at the same time. You should’ve at least tried to get rid of their bodies.”

“No time. I couldn’t risk anybody knowing that I stayed at school late.”

“I know, but that would’ve been impressive.”

“Maybe.”

“Not up for talking today, huh?”

“Not really.”

“Fine. I’ll leave you to your mourning.” She looked up at him. “Yeah, I saw your creepy little shrine in the basement. I had to burn those flowers and throw away that bowl though, because fingerprints are an actual thing, Yan-chan.”

“Oh.” She turned back down to her homework.

“Do you want anything to eat?” She shook her head. “I’ll get you something anyway.”

“No, I can get something myself.”

“Fine. I forgot that Yan-chan is the face of independence. Won’t pass me the knife or let me feed her. Whatever. Bye.”

❀

Was it a punishment? Perhaps. She was shoving the food down by the mouthful with no breaks in between. She choked on the broth here and there, but she forced herself to keep going until she couldn’t anymore. She forced herself to swallow down yet another bowl of noodles as she felt bile rise in her throat. Vomit spewed from her mouth and she felt it spill into the empty bowls lined up in front of her and in between her fingers and chopsticks.

It was certainly a punishment once she felt the uncanny feeling of emptiness in the pit of her belly. She looked at the pseudo-broth-colored vomit on the table and sighed. Now she had to clean it up. So much for punishment. And she had spent half of the weekly allowance that her mother and father had shipped to her on food that was just wasted in the matter of minutes.

Her phone vibrated on the corner of the table. It managed to remain untouched by any of the mess. She hadn’t gotten any word from Info-chan for a while and she wasn’t nervous per se that she wasn’t receiving messages. She just felt as though as though something was missing from her daily routine that she had grown to include Info-chan into during winter break. 

> _@ **kokonutz** wants to be your friend!_

She hurried to grab a towel to wipe her hands with before she accepted the request.

> _@ **kokonutz** wants to talk now!_

This was going to be interesting.

> _**バブルガム✿CHUM**_  
>  ♡ fri. – 16.jan.98 / 18:01 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**kokonutz** : is it true?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : what?_  
>  _**kokonutz** : did the cooking club get shut down because everybody died?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : i think. idk what really happened. i wasnt there that day._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : im sorry._  
>  _**kokonutz** : i just need somebody to talk to and i felt like you were the only one who understood what I’m going through rn. sorry if im too forward. Could you meet me in the autotorium on monday after school so we can talk if you want?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : of course. i need somebody to talk to too. Everybody does._  
>  _**kokonutz** : thank you so much, yan-chan._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : anytime, kokona._

Ayano looked at the unruly mess she made of emptied bowls, some filled with vomit, and three pairs of broken, cheap, wooden chopsticks. She needed to brush her teeth, change her clothes, and find perfume to freshen up with. Her brother had a science tournament in an hour and he didn’t need to know what she had done.

_Why didn’t she fight back?_

The house reeked of candle smoke that night. Yande didn’t comment.


	4. You Love Maggots More Than I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 55%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _in this chapter:_  
>  \- **extremely dubious consent**.

Problem: the school didn’t have an “autotorium,” and Ayano didn’t feel like looking around. Phone in hand, she opted toward the Drama Club instead. The door was locked. Figures. She did regularly come to school earlier than most, but – she checked her phone – it was 6:23. She had waited for the school gates to open and waved off a comment from a teacher about how she was so early.

She leaned against the door and pressed the smooth metal of her phone against her chin. It hadn’t been too hard to leave without Yande’s notice. She managed to slip out of bed without waking him up and took a quick shower and slipped on her clothes. The feeling of emptiness from riding through the town underneath the rising sun without the sound of a second bike pedaling beside her did not go amiss, but she chose to ignore it. She just had to get out of the house. She couldn’t stay there a minute longer.

Evidence of the unfruitful nights was beginning to develop underneath her eyes. She prodded at the slight dark spots that just cried for attention against her smooth skin. She didn’t own any makeup. Maybe Kokona could come up with a solution for her. Ayano could practically feel the burn of Yande’s stare if he came across her new weary look.

Her phone buzzed. She found herself biting her lip as she flipped it open. 

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ mon. – 19.jan.98 / 6:25 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan8** : In 1990, statistics showed that the Japanese authorities solve 95.9% of homicide cases._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : why are you telling me this_  
>  _**info_chan8** : I just thought that you would like to know that you are part of the 4.1% of a rare population of people. Isn’t that something?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : i guess_  
>  _**info_chan8** : You should feel special, Yan-chan._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : but i dont_  
>  _**info_chan8** : You should._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Kokona Haruka should be arriving to the club in a moment._  
>  _**info_chan8** : She brought you breakfast. How sweet._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : goodbye_  
>  _**info_chan8** : Whoa. Why the sudden dismissal? Don’t take your aggressions out on me. That’s what Kokona is for._

Ayano sighed as she closed the phone shut again. She could hear footsteps approaching her way. Being real seemed enticing. She touched underneath her eyes again and traced her finger along the rumples on her sweater. She usually was one to iron and lay out her clothes the night before, but she had just pulled on the bare minimum of her uniform and then pulled a sweater over it in her hasty retreat. She frowned as she pulled a speck of lint off of it. It was Yande’s; a loose-fitting, dark-colored sweater with buttons and pockets – very Yande. Smelled like him too. She pulled the sleeves over her hands. He should be waking up soon.

“Good morning, Yan-chan!” Ayano’s head perked up. Kokona was jumbling with three large paper bags and a stack of books. Ayano automatically went over to grab the books. Ayano made a point to not generally converse with her during their Cooking Club meetings. Her impressions of the girl was that she was a little ditzy, but Kokona was all smiles and joy an—

_“She’s all about people and her reputation. Exploit her. Find out anything and everything about her. Gossip and spread rumors until it’s too much for her to handle.”_

Ayano blinked a couple of times and slowed her breathing. “Good morning,” she said back.

Kokona shifted the bags to her other arm as she fiddled with her skirt pocket. “Oh, can I call you ‘Yan-chan?’ Everybody else does, so I thought it’d be okay if I did, but it’s cool if it isn’t, I can call you Ayano or Aishi or whatever you want.” She pulled out a key and unlocked the Drama Club room with it.

“’Yan-chan’ is fine.” Ayano cleared her throat as they entered the room and Kokona turned on the lights. She was slipping. Being real wasn’t an option. She painted on a smile. “You bought breakfast?”

“Yeah! Uh…” Kokona set the bags down on the table and brought a few items out. McDonald’s. Ayano swore that they didn’t one in town. “I have, uh, I forgot what I bought, sorry, but you can have whatever you want. Me and Saki-chan went out to the next town this morning and we, like, basically ordered the whole menu.” She gasped suddenly as she took out (Ayano’s blinked, where did she pull it out from?) a cup holder with four different drinks it looked like. “Ooh, forget what I said about Saki. She isn’t—” Kokona winked “— _here_ today.”

Ayano smiled. “Oh, okay. I didn’t hear that.” She pulled out a thing of French fries and carefully ate one. They weren’t salty enough. She put it back in the bag when Kokona turned around to fiddle with more things around the room. She found herself staring at the girl. She had a nice shape and figure, not too skinny like Osana but not as filled out as Sweetie.

_“Her various visits to the clinic have confirmed that her tits are indeed fake.”_

Info-chan was probably just being mean. Ayano couldn’t believe everything they said. Info-chan obviously had a vendetta against the rivals that was possibly stronger than the Aishi’s. And, besides, they looked real.

Kokona babbled on as she set a few things up before she took the seat across Ayano and began eating. She made sure to talk in between mouthfuls. Kokona was naturally a person who dominated the conversation and Ayano was always lulled into listening, not speaking. It was nice to fall into a comfortable silence again.

“Hey,” Kokona said, softer. Ayano raised an eyebrow, still listening. “About… about Sweetie-chan, d-do you think that…?” There were tears welling up in the girl’s eyes. Ayano forgot what to do. She knew that people wanted comfort when sad – basic knowledge – but she had _(accidentally, be more careful)_ slipped so far into the motions of being “real” that she had forgotten. She blamed it on Kokona’s easy presence. She blamed it on Yande’s sudden overbearingness. She blamed it on the Info-chan’s silent pressure. She blamed it on her father’s selfish negligence. She blamed it on her mother’s—

She stopped. Putting the blame on others did nothing. She had the blood on her hands – literally.

“Think what?”

“Think that she’s, I don’t know, dead or something? Like…” Kokona quickly wiped her eyes with a napkin from the bag. “I just—I just have this weird feeling, you know? With Osana disappearing and then Sweetie disappearing and now the rest of the Cooking Club’s gone… I don’t know. It’s really, really creeping me out. A lot.”

Ayano nodded. “Me too.”

“It’s just that—that I’m kind of scared. What if it’s somebody inside school? Or what if it’s somebody in town? Like some type of pervert guy who’s into kidnapping schoolgirls?”

“I don’t think that the police think they got kidnapped or murdered or anything. Osana and Sweetie are technically still missing and they said that the girls in the club incorrectly prepared their meal and got a bad case of food poisoning.” Ayano shrugged and took a sip of her drink. “We shouldn’t jump to conclusions like that.”

“No, no, no. I think we should. There could be some psycho out there just waiting to rape us when we get home.” Kokona took out yet another burger from the bag. “And I don’t know about you, but that girl is not going to be me. Not a-fucking-gain” Ayano could hear the other girl tap her foot on the ground. “It just—hm, can I just say something?”

“Say whatever you want.”

“What I just said there, this all just reminds me of my father, sorry. He’s a horrible piece of shit guy and...” Kokona took a large bite from her burger. “Whoever’s doing this, I just want them to get caught, you know?”

“Yeah.” Ayano took a slow sip of her drink. “I know.”

“Hey, you looking for a club since Cooking Club’s disbanded?” _Nice subject change._

“Um, I’m about to join Swimming Club.”

_“Fourth is Kaiyo Puru, captain of the swim team.”_

“Oh c’mon, swim season is September to March and April to August. You can totally join Drama Club right now!”

“But I—” Kokona was already squealing.

“Ooh, this is gonna be so much fun, Yan-chan!” Kokona was across the table and grabbing Ayano’s hands now. Their hands fit together so well. Ayano didn’t notice that the girl was the same height as her. “Please, Yan-chan?” Her smile wilted some. “I really need a friend right now.”

“What about Saki?”

“Yeah, I have Saki, but she doesn’t understand what I’m going through like you do.” Ayano wanted to push her hands away. No. She was going to stand over this girl’s corpse by Thursday. She had enough with this sentimental bullshit.

“Sure. I’ll join.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Yan-chan!”

❀

Ayano and Yande rode their bikes quietly on the way home. Ayano tried to look at her brother while they removed their shoes at the door, but he wouldn’t face her. And not when they took their jackets off either. She kept his sweater on as she followed him to the dining room, waiting.

He disappeared into the kitchen and returned with two bottles of Blue Hawaii flavored Ramune. He placed the bottles on the table instead of handing them to her. He opened a bottle, swooshed the blue liquid inside and the glass marble clinked from side to side, before he took a long swing. He licked his lips before he sat back down. “I’m craving saké.” He sat back in the chair. “And a cigarette.”

Ayano took the soda and the seat next to him. “Saké sounds good right now.” Smoking was something their father was fond of, especially during more difficult days with their mother. Smoking was something that Yande adopted and occasionally practiced (such as on the nights when they slept in different beds by choice and not by necessity), but something Ayano could never do. Alcohol was something she dabbled in and something Yande hid underneath his bed (he stocked up during winter break).

“Maybe tonight,” Yande said. He set his half-emptied bottle next to Ayano’s full one. “Come here.”

“Why?”

“I want you here.”

They looked at each other, locked eyes, something Ayano felt like they haven’t done in a while. Their eyes were the same chestnut brown shade that they inherited from their parents. She got up. She walked over to him. He took her by the hand, the same hand that Kokona had grabbed out of the _pure excitement of friendship – yay_ , and pulled her down into his lap. She didn’t understand. What was with his sudden obsession with her? She found the question spilling out of lips before she could take it back. The restless weekend had really taken its toll on her.

He slid his hands from her hips and towards the buttons of the sweater. “No reason.” He took her by the back of the neck so he could press his nose against her skin. “You smell different.”

“How?”

“Not as girly and flowery like you usually do. Well, you were in the shower for two minutes.” She sighed.

“I woke you up?”

“I was already awake.” He continued to unbutton the sweater. “Did you have fun today with your new little friend in my sweater?” He pulled it off her shoulders. “Your uniform’s wrinkly.” He reached up and touched underneath her eyes. She didn’t flinch or push his hand away. “This is so unlike you.” He laced their fingers together. “Talk to me, Yan-chan.”

“I don’t like talking.”

“Stop being difficult.”

“I…” He squeezed her hand. “I feel bad.” She could hear the moment he stopped breathing.

“Yan-chan.” He let go of her hands and tightened his hands into the sides of her shirt, wrinkling it further. She heard his breaths slow and quicken. He grabbed her suddenly and pulled her toward him. Holding was one thing, a thing she was familiar with, but hugging – embracing – was an entirely different story. She could feel him nose along the side of her neck and his hands tighten around her middle and his legs shift from underneath her, but she sat still, frozen. “Yan-chan,” he repeated, voice lower. “You can’t do that.”

“I know.”

“I don’t think you do.” He pushed his hands up and down her back. He pressed his nails into her skin and pressed her closer until they were chest-to-chest. “I was two steps away from fucking Osana, but I still chopped her pretty little head off.” His lips were against her ear. “Get over yourself, because we have seven more to go after this and I can’t have you breaking down, Yan.”

“I’ll try.” She felt him graze his teeth along the tip of her ear. She moved then to grab his shoulders. “Stop.”

“Let me have this.” He continued to nibble at her, press his lips against her throat. “Let me have this until you get Senpai under your belt.” He pulled her collar down and dragged his tongue against the exposed skin. “What I did was,” he said in between nips, “think about you whenever I was with Osana. It wasn’t on purpose either, I just always thought about you and Senpai every time I kissed her.” He grabbed her by the neck again and forced her head up to look him in the eye again. “I didn’t get attached to her— _couldn’t get attached to her_ —because I made sure that I didn’t.” He pressed his lips against the bridge of her nose, across her cheeks, gently, and she closed her eyes as he pressed his lips against hers, gently, and she waited, waited, waited for him to stop, stop, stop. “No more emotional ties,” he said against her lips. “Don’t get attached, stay detached. Remember that.” He rolled her bottom lip in between his teeth. “Say it,” he hissed.

“Don’t get attached, stay detached,” she repeated back, voice soft. How ironic that it was murder that managed to evoke the emotion out of Ayano.

He kissed her again, softly, and she never recalled him being so gentle before (it could have made her nervous if she knew what it was like to be nervous). He moved a hand up and down her back again and again and she sat stock still. “Yan-chan, a little less statue, please.”

“No.”

“You’re never any fun.” He pushed her off of his lap and onto the table. Ayano could hear the glass marbles from the bottles rattle as her head slammed on top of it. She closed her eyes again. He was kissing along her neck, her collarbone, her lips, but she only laid there. He pushed her further up on the table and slid his hands up and down her legs, squeezing her thighs, taking off her house slippers and her long socks. He pressed a kiss against her inner thigh. “I just want to—”

“Stop.”

“Shut up. I’m not gonna do anything bad.” He pulled her panties down to her ankles and pushed her skirt up. “It’s been so long,” he whispered. “Just give me this, please, Yan-chan.” She didn’t say anything. He pressed more kisses along her thighs. “You’re just doing this because you feel guilty, huh? Because things haven’t been the same.” She still didn’t comment. “You feel guilty about me and Shiba and Kokona, but you don’t about Osana.” He pushed her folds open and traced his tongue along her epicenter. Her body trembled, but she focused on her heartbeat – _slow down, decelerate, calm down_. “Because you didn’t like Osana, but you like Shiba and Kokona for some reason.”

He pressed more kisses against her clit as he dug his nails into her thighs. Her body automatically responded, as it should, growing wet and dripping and shuddering, but she focused her eyes on the blue liquid inside of the bottles. It jumped every time Yande bumped against the table and squeezed her thighs and licked her. After her body gave one last shudder and she suppressed the urge to squirm underneath his touch, he pressed a kiss against her stomach as he looked up to her.

“You need to have that attitude with everyone else. Hate them. They’re trying to take Senpai away from you. They’re your rivals. Act like it.” He let go of her then.

She pulled her panties back up and could already feel them stain. She’ll have to clean the wet spot on the table later and wash the sweater that had been discarded on the floor and put the soda back in the refrigerator before it got flat.

“I’ll run you a bath,” Yande announced from the hall. Ayano was too busy filling her mind with new thoughts: cleaning, hating – the only two things she needed to know from that day forward.

❀

The water was exceptionally warm and Yande didn’t join in. He sat by the tub with a stack of papers in hand. Foraging handwriting was a breeze to the twins. Yande could do Ayano’s signature any day, and vice versa. He did her homework then as she played with the soapy, scented bubbles in one hand and held a plastic cup of (“borrowed from their mother”) saké in the other. The sting of alcohol was strong in her throat and its effects blurred the lines of her stupid worries.

“I’ll take this one.” Ayano looked up. She took another sip from the cup and only raised an eyebrow. It took alcohol to feel like her old self. How pathetic. Too bad she barely had a sense of humor. “I’ll kill Kokona. You take a break.”

“Define ‘break.’”

“You’re sick. You caught the bug that’s been going around, but you asked me to join Drama Club so Kokona wouldn’t get lonely. And if a little romance sparks along the way…” He shrugged and effortlessly scribbled another answer down in the style of her neat handwriting. “All the better.”

Ayano sunk back into the tub. Two or three days off sounded like a nice recovery time to gather her thoughts. She didn’t have to be involved with Kokona’s death and she could make up for it by making Kaiyo Puru’s murder a true show. That sounded good. “They’re doing _Himitsu no Kingyo_ by Saturday.”

“What? I never heard of _The Secret of the Goldfish_ before.”

“It was this script written by someone in school for a competition and the first place prize was for the Drama Club to put it together in an official production.”

Yande leaned his head against the tub. “Ugh, this is turning out to be more than I bargained for.” He flipped the paper over and started on the back. “Give me the synopsis on this.”

“It’s about a wife, called the Wife, who kills people and puts their body parts in boxes and packages them off as fish to her husband, called the Husband.” 

“Got it.” He smirked. “This is as good as done.”

❀

Kokona was practically attached to Yande’s hip. “You don’t understand how excited I am to do the premiere of _Himitsu no Kingyo_! I got the masks and the costumes and everything too, all handmade by the members of the Art Club and the Sewing Club, isn’t that exciting?” She made a happy sound as she showed him the costumes. “So, you’re just the understudy, so, you know, study the lines and stuff, but I don’t think that you’re going to have to go in the play or anything unless something super last minute comes up like Sosuke drops dead or something.” She showed him the mask. It was a female imp’s face – how fitting.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it!” She took some of the robes down to look at them. “I’m trying to show Sensei that I’m the one who should direct _Kanadehon Chushingura_ in February, not Sosuke.” She put her hands on her hips. “I mean, a girl can direct the play just as well as a boy can! Can you see me putting together eleven whole acts about forty-seven _ronin_? That’d be so badass, dude!”

“It would be, yeah.” He tried the mask on and glanced at himself in the mirror from the corner of the room. “And I thought it was forty-six _ronin_ this whole time. I’m a fucking idiot.”

“Forty-seven, forty-six, who cares. Still about a bunch of smelly, old guys that just run around and kill themselves at the end of the day.” Kokona pulled the costume out on him. Sora Sosuke chose to pass by them then. Yande and Sosuke were luckily the same height, build, and skin tone, but there was still one problem.

“Do I get a wig?” Sosuke’s hair was a million shades lighter than Yande’s. It was easy to tell the difference between the Drama Club star’s almost blondish brunette curls versus the Aishi boy’s dark, nearly jet-black strands.

“Yeah. I just ordered one. It should be here by tomorrow and you can try it on, but, you know, fat chance if you get to make it to the stage.”

Yande glanced in between Sosuke and Kokona. “Yeah,” he chuckled. “But I can still hope though.”

❀

The heavy anxiety in the atmosphere didn’t manage to wrap its hands around Yande’s throat. He remained calm, cool, and collected like Ayano had been with Osana (and not with Sweetie). He wore his costume and wig then. Sosuke was secure in the supply closet out back, waiting to be collected by Ayano and her (“borrowed from the Light Music Club room”) cello case. Dress rehearsal was well underway and – lucky for Yande – it didn’t take long to match the melodramatic voice and theatrical mannerisms that Sosuke liked to put on for the show. Bonus: he only had to memorize a speech.

Everything was too perfect. They were on the cool rooftop to escape the heat of the school building and everyone except for Sosuke, Yande, Kokona, and a couple of other girls remained to make sure that everything was great for the big play. Yande smirked from behind his mask. Who knew that there were so many beautiful opportunities to kill? It got Yande’s blood pumping in all the right ways.

Kokona huffed when she caught sight of him. The night sky shielded him further and one of the girls had gushed over how utterly romantic it was to act the play out under the starlight until Yande reminded her that the play was about gory melodramatics, not love. “Sosuke, get your ass over here! You take forever in the bathroom.” Yande shrugged, something Sosuke would do. “Let’s just go over the big speech at the end one more time. I’ll be the Wife and, uh, can you just stand by right there?” Yande moved towards the railing alongside Kokona. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

He pulled out his script and turned to the page of the speech. He only glanced at it before tucking it into his back pocket. He didn’t need any lines. He only needed one take.

Kokona cleared her throat as she looked down at her own page. “Ooh, you finally got it memorized, huh? I’m a little impressed.” She pulled out a pink highlighter from her own skirt pocket and marked something on the paper. “But I’ll be really impressed if you don’t stumble over the last couple of lines for the hundredth time.”

Yande waited for her prompt. “My wife, listen,” he started. It gave him chills right down his spine to use Sosuke’s voice, to see that Kokona was convinced, hell, he felt convinced. He was doing a damn good job if he could say so himself. What was it called? Ah. Dramatic irony – when the audience knows something that the characters do not. “You were born in the capital, you were degraded, you were devoured by your family. I understand, little wife, I understand.” He could be as loud as he wanted. He could be angry and mean it. He could be crazy, could have his blood rushing through his veins, and it was accepted. He should’ve joined Drama Club years ago. “But I rescued you. I was your savior, your Messiah. And what is it you think every time your eyes gaze upon my body?”

“Damn,” Kokona whispered. Yande’s smirk only grew wider. “Sorry, back to the script.” She cleared her throat, “I think—”

“Of how much you wish to devour my flesh? I read your records while you were away. You want to gorge my eyes to sweeten your drinks and to save my intestines for soup to feed our family. I know.” He waved his arms to the swirling stars above them. His anticipation was soaring most high. “It’s over, little wife, it’s over!” He stepped closer to her, closer to the railing. “We have reached the nadir of our sufferings.” He was grabbing her by the waist now – not in the script. “I thought you loved me.”

“I-I do love you,” Kokona recited, the interruption was in the script, but her voice was breathy.

“No,” he said, his voice breathy also, from all of the amazing feelings buzzing through his beautiful, dark, twisted mind. “You love maggots more than I.”

She took a small back from him, towards the railing. “G-Good job, man.” Her hands shook around her paper. “You really cleaned up your act. Color me impressed.”

“How about I color you red instead?”

“Huh?”

He snatched the script from her hands and revealed the knife that he had kept tucked in his pocket the entire time. He covered her mouth before she could scream and _the bitch fucking bit him_. He kicked her feet out from underneath her. The blade of the knife slashed across her arm on the way down.

She was a fighter all right. More than Osana was. She really liked living. Yande grabbed her by her pigtails and picked her up. Tears were streaming down her face and she still kicked and he slapped her when she tried to scream again. “Shut up, already.”

Her eyes widened. “Y-Yan-kun?” Her eyes then rolled to the back of her head and warm blood spilled all over his front of his robes suddenly. He spotted the sharp gleam of a knife poking out of her chest and her head rolled against his shoulder when the knife twisted back and forth before coming out.

He didn’t need to take his mask off. “You feeling better, Yan-chan?” He pushed Kokona off the side of the roof. He could hear her body clunk in the garbage bin below. Good thing they had promised the last teacher that if they stay into the night at school practicing, they would clean the roof and dump the garbage into the incinerator before they left.

“Yes, my ‘bug’ went away finally.” She tossed the knife off of the roof and into the bin also.

Yande opened his mouth to say something, but – “Oh, my fucking God!” – and he pointed to the doorway.

“Get her!” Ayano – no hesitation – was quick to turn around, grab the girl by the neck, and throw her to the ground. “Goddamn,” he whispered. His sister was amazing. He took his unused knife and sliced along the girl’s throat, right above where Ayano’s thumbs were pressed into the girl’s jugular. Ayano squeezed into the laceration and blood coated her own fingers. Messy, messy, messy – second to Osana’s death.

It took a moment for Ayano’s fingers to unclamp and her eyes were even more dazed than the dead girl’s. “Yuna Hina—two… suicide attempts… last year,” Ayano gasped out. Yande nodded. He collected the girl into his arms, blood dripped in between them, and tossed her off the roof also.

“The other girl?”

“Sick… went home.” Ayano shakily stood up again. Yande took his sister’s arm and helped her up. “Mop’s… in… the hall.” He patted her back. He got a head start on the bloodstains for her; his sister deserved a little break. They could have fun burning the bodies together later.

❀

Sosuke was kept in the basement with duct tape secured over his mouth and rope around his wrists. He was crying, but not screaming, which was good because the Aishi’s were quick to learn that they did not like screaming.

Yande’s phone buzzed. He frowned when he saw that it was an incoming call. He was actually looking forward to a BubblegumChum notification. “Hello?”

“Nice job. You didn’t miss a single spot on the roof and my minions collected the bone shards after the incinerator cooled, but this is the second time you two have disobeyed me.”

“Info-chan?”

“Yes, this is she.” Yande put the phone on speaker and tapped Ayano’s on the shoulder. The girl’s voice was low, almost gravely, no nonsense, but still young. “If I don’t see Kaiyo floating belly-up in the school pool by next Thursday, we’re going to have a problem.” The call ended.

“Aw, she cares,” Yande said. They ascended the stairs back to the living-room.

“Shut up.”

“You better drown Kaiyo.”

“I will.”

“Good.”

❀

They lied back-to-back that night, both unable to sleep.

“Yan-chan.”

“What?”

“Did you hear my speech?”

“Yes.”

“How was it?”

“Good job.”

“Thanks.” He pulled the sheets up to his chin and Ayano groaned and readjusted the blankets. “I like the script. I mean, the little bit I did read of it. Life imitates art, as they say.”

“Shut up.”

“What?” She didn’t respond. “Fine.” He cuddled into his pillow. “We should sleep.”

“I can’t.”

“What’re you thinking about now?”

“Senpai.”

“Yeah, he looked kind of troubled today.”

“We killed his best friend.”

“He’ll get over it.”

Ayano turned her head toward her brother. “If I died you wouldn’t just get over it.” Silence settled heavy in between them. It wasn’t comfortable and Ayano hated that.

“You’re right,” he whispered. She was already asleep, softly snoring through her nose. He closed his eyes also, thinking back to the angry-red nail marks he had left on her thighs.


	5. Blue Talk and Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 75%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _in this chapter:_  
>  \- mildly dubious consent.  
> 

Yande caught the way Officer Kanon’s mustache twitched as he looked over his notepad. The policeman glanced at his companion before turning back to Yande. Yande’s irritation broke the silence: “Is there something wrong, Officer?”

The man shook his head. “No, no. It’s just… your alibi’s a little shaky, kid. Not just yours, though, don’t worry. Everybody’s is.” The policeman leaned against the table. After the reports of Kokona Haruka, Yuna Hina, and Sosuke Sora’s disappearances Yande, Mei Mio, and the last teacher in the school were naturally called in by the police for questioning – as they were the last people confirmed to see them. “Students go missing late at night,” the officer murmured, “and you three were the only ones around. I mean, it’s shaky. It’s difficult, but… I can work with it. I can work with it.” Officer Kanon stood up. “You can leave now. And here, kid,” he reached into his back pocket and took out a few coins. “Buy something from the vending machine on me. Sorry I cut into your lunch, but it’s better than cutting into your class time, right?”

Yande took the money with a smile. “Thank you, Officer Kanon.” He bowed toward the other officer. “Have a good afternoon, Officer Murakami.” Murakami curtly nodded.

❀

Yande knew that Friday was not going to be peaches and roses for him, but no one was prepared for the entirety of the Photography Club to run around and shove newspapers and pencils and notepads down everyone’s throats. Talking to the police was a more pleasant experience then speaking to his peers. At least the officers weren’t too prodding and got him something to drink and let him eat his lunch during questioning.

“Aishi-san, Aishi-san!” A girl called out. He made the mistake of turning around. It was a simple looking girl with reddened knees and cheeks and had her long hair was tied into two ponytails running down her back. He grimaced. “Hi, Nakatani Mari here, and I just have a few questions for you about the members of the Drama Club disappearing for the school paper. Can you spare a moment?”

“Um…” Yande shook his head. “I have, um, class.” What was this? He wasn’t ready for this. He hadn’t realized that the Photography Club was going to be an actual obstacle.

She giggled. “It’s lunchtime, silly. Just really quick, okay?” She didn’t give him a chance to protest. “What was the last thing that you heard Kokona Haruka say?”

“We were just practicing for the play, going over lines and stuff.” Geez, some girl that was at least two heads shorter than him with a notepad and a camera was making him uncomfortable? This was too much.

“And Sosuke Sora?”

“He was going over lines too. We all were. We were just going over lines for the play, looking over the sets and costumes and then Kokona and Sosuke wanted t—you know what.” He smiled. She took a step back. He didn’t mean for his grin to be wicked, but the girl was asking for it. “Go bother the police. I’d hate to repeat myself. Have a nice afternoon, Nakatani-san.” He walked away from her as quickly as he could.

❀

Yande sighed as he checked who was calling him. “Can’t I catch a break?” He muttered as he moved his thumb to accept the call. “Hi, papa. Yan-chan told me you were in America now, how is it?”

“I-It’s hot.” Yande could hear his father shuffle around on the other end. Maybe he was pacing or moving to light up a cigarette. “Um, Yan-kun, that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I’m… getting a divorce from your mother, Yan-kun. I just talked to Yan-chan about it a few minutes ago and she wanted me to tell you personally than have her deliver the news, so, yeah.”

“Oh…” Yande clicked his tongue. “I saw it coming. Anything else? Mother wouldn’t like a long long-distance call on her bill, you know.”

“Y-Yes, there’s, um, something else.” A beat. “I was speaking with your mother the other day, and I have some concerns over your—your sexuality, Yan-kun. She told me that you hold some affection towards another male student, and you know that I don’t approve of that. Remember our conversation about this? When I—”

Yande hung up.

❀

What a coincidence that Ayano ran into Kaiyo Puru, the Swim Team Captain and Swim Club President and next victim of the Akademi High School disappearances, at the Buraza Town Supermarket during her good and wholesome Sunday grocery shopping. Ayano pocketed her phone and walked to the girl. She had tanned skin and hair that was cropped around her ears. She was looking between two items and frowning, probably calculating prices in her head.

“Are you Kaiyo Puru?” Ayano asked. The girl jumped and nearly dropped the boxes of rice she was holding. “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” She laughed it off. She had a wide grin. “It’s just, I’m so bad at math and I’m always the one who has to do the shopping and I just sorta zone out when I’m trying to add and subtract prices and stuff.” She tossed both items into the basket on her arm. “But yeah, I’m Kaiyo. How can I help you?”

“I’m Aishi Ayano.”

“Oh, you’re the one with the twin brother?”

“Yes, that’s me! I wanted to ask about joining the swim team.”

“Well, it’s not swimming season yet. But the Swim Club is open at any time, you know. Would you like to join the club in the meantime then?” Ayano nodded. “Great! We meet at the usual club time on Monday and for the rest of the week. I’ll see you then?”

“You can bet on it.” They gave an amicable goodbye. Out of the corner of her eye, Ayano could see Kaiyo take both boxes from out of her basket and begin to stare at them again before she placed them both back on the shelf and walk away.

❀

The Swim Club was not as warm and welcoming as the Cooking Club, Ayano noted. She decided to blame it on the general uneasiness that the entire school was experiencing. Of course there was going to be some uneasiness after yet another series of disappearances. Kaiyo seemed unfazed though. Ayano offered to eat in the swimming pool’s locker room with her – where the captain usually ate alone – the girl accepted.

Ayano carefully unpacked her lunch as she sat on one of the benches. Kaiyo was leaned against the lockers and aimlessly eating away. Ayano noticed the lack of rice in her lunch.

Conversation was easy. There were periods of silence, but they weren’t uncomfortable – only natural, yet during one bout of it Kaiyo frowned as she sipped on a soda from the vending machine. “What’s wrong?” Ayano asked. She was obligated to ask.

“Oh, just…” Kaiyo’s frown deepened. She crushed the can and tossed it into the wastebasket on the other side of the room. It made it in flawlessly. “It’s just that this year feels different, like, different in a bad way. There’s just a lot of tension going on and it wasn’t like the team and the club weren’t assholes in the first place. You know things are bad once a team starts shunning their own captain.” Ayano recalled how when they first arrived to the locker room there were a few members of the club rummaging through their lockers. They had all tossed odd looks toward Kaiyo before immediately shuffling out together, murmuring the entire time. “I don’t know how to win ‘em over.”

“You don’t have to win them over. Don’t worry about them.” Kaiyo raised an eyebrow. “Why do you swim, Kaiyo?”

“Because of the scholarships and prizes and stuff. It’s good for my family.”

“That means that you don’t swim for them. You swim for _you_. Always remember that, all right? If things get really bad, if the entire team stops speaking to you, just remind yourself that it’s about you not them. Got it?” Kaiyo nodded. “Don’t forget that.”

“I won’t ever.” Ayano nodded and looked down at her half-eaten lunch.

❀

Ayano touched the sides of her swimsuit. It was black and exposed the hips. She imagined Yande seeing her in such attire. Sure, they regularly took baths together (not as regularly lately though), but with his recent strange behavior he probably would implode to see her in such a revealing outfit.

She could hear the gossipy whispers from the rest of the members behind her. Like Info-chan had said, Kaiyo went off somewhere else to change her clothes.

“There she goes again,” one member murmured.

“Do you think she goes in the supply closet or something?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s so weird,” another member says. “Why can’t she just change in here with the rest of us? What makes her so special?”

“She’s the captain, remember?” They all laughed. “Ugh, let’s go. We start in, like, ten more minutes and I wanna warm up.”

Ayano listened to the sound of their footsteps go off into the distance. She closed her locker door slowly and held her towel against her chest. Thoughts were running through her mind. Dare she? She hadn’t heard anyone mention actually going to “the closet” and looking for Kaiyo. Perhaps they did respect her in their own way. Or, maybe they didn’t care enough.

Ayano looked around the locker room. There was a closet off to the side of the showers. She crouched down in front of her lockers, stilled her breath, and waited. She heard that Kaiyo didn’t leave until everyone else is gone. She heard the door creak open and a few unsteady footsteps came out.

“Where is it? Where is it?” She heard Kaiyo whisper. She slowly crept to the other side of the lockers. Kaiyo had a towel wrapped tightly around her body and her hands fumbled as she tried to open her locker. She pulled out a swimming uniform – with shorts – and quickly threw off her towel to get dressed. Ayano’s eyes immediately focused in between her legs. Oh. _Oh_.

Ayano stood up. “Kaiyo-chan,” she called out. The girl froze. Ayano could see her shoulders tense. Kaiyo quickly finished getting dressed and tightened the drawstrings of her shorts.

“I forgot to take my suit with me in the closet.” Her voice was quiet. She wrapped her towel around her neck, slowly. She faced Ayano, tears pooling in her eyes. “A-Are you goin—”

Ayano shook her head. Murder and torture were her forte, not exactly humiliation and ignominy. “No. I won’t tell anyone. I swear.” Kaiyo looked unconvinced. Ayano held out her pinky. “Pinky promise. If I lie I will drink a thousand needles and cut my pinky,” she recited.

Kaiyo cautiously intertwined her pinky finger with Ayano. “I-I don’t understand.”

“I have secrets too. Secrets I’m willing to cut the red string of fate for.” Ayano touched Kaiyo’s shoulder. “Let’s swim then, okay? This never happened.” Kaiyo nodded.

“Right, this never happened.”

❀

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ tue. – 27.jan.98 / 16:41 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan8** : So, what is it?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : what is what_  
>  _**info_chan8** : You know what I’m talking about. The secret. What’s Kaiyo Puru’s secret?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : she has a scar on her stomach from surgery and she’s nervous about it_  
>  _**info_chan8** : You’re lying._  
>  _**info_chan8** : I can see you, you know._  
>  _**info_chan8** : You may be a master manipulator, hiding behind the façade of being a normal schoolgirl when you’re really just some cold-hearted, psychopathic killer, but I can tell when someone’s lying to me. A scar on her stomach? No, bullshit. There’s more to the story._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Now, tell me what’s really going on._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : i just told u_  
>  _**info_chan8** : If I didn’t like you so much, Yan-chan, I would kill you myself._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : do it_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : ill be waiting._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Goodbye. Have fun with your brother tonight. He has had a stressful week and I know he has a habit of taking his troubles out on you, the poor little, helpless sister._

Ayano closed her phone. She could feel a ripe, sudden emotion coursing through her veins. Her hands might have shaken when she set her phone down. Yande was taking a bath by himself tonight. Sneaking into his room and looking underneath his bed for leftover booze didn’t sound like too bad of an idea.

❀

Ayano tucked the flask of plum liquor into her bag when a member passed by. She took swings using the barriers of locker doors on bad days. Was today a bad day? It could easily turn into one. Today was supposed to be a day of celebration though. The Akademi High School Girls’ Swim Club was still holding the first place title against their rival school. The girls were whooping and hollering behind her. Pool and shower water was gathering underneath Ayano’s still-bare feet. She curled her toes inward as she took another swing. Just enough to get a buzz going in the back of her head. Just enough to get the weight of the knife in her skirt pocket to lessen some.

“Yan-chan!” Ayano would have cringed if she could at the sound of the girl’s voice. She mustered up a smile and tucked the drink back into her backpack. Kaiyo’s grin was wide and she gave Ayano a high five. She held their hands together. “Great work out there, newbie! Thanks for not breaking our winning streak.”

“How could I? Winning’s a tradition around here.” Ayano ran her fingers through her still-wet hair. “I heard everybody talking about going to a party?”

“Yeah, but I’m not going. I’m never invited.” Kaiyo shrugged, unbothered. “What, are you going?”

“No. I rather hang out with you, if you don’t mind.” Kaiyo’s smile widened.

“I’d love that, Yan.”

❀

From shyly chatting in the grocery store on Sunday, to making a solemn promise on Tuesday, to kissing by the school poolside on Wednesday night soon to be Thursday morning – Ayano blamed it the alcohol and Kaiyo’s naïveté and eagerness. Kaiyo leaked gross artlessness as her tongue was too shy to prod past Ayano’s teeth. Ayano didn’t want to channel her inner Yande and hold the girl down, but for goodness’ sake, the lack of soberness she had going on was tempting her too.

Kaiyo broke apart from her. A string of saliva gathered and stretched between her lips. Kaiyo broke it apart quickly. Ayano softly admitted in her mind that she was glad that the kiss was over. Sweetie was better. Sweetie’s lips had been… sweet for a lack of better words.

Kaiyo looked down as she smiled. “Yan-chan, thank you.” Ayano leaned back against the wall.

“For what?”

“Just—everything. Thank you. You’re probably the only person that’s been genuinely nice to me in this entire school, actually.”

“Oh.” Ayano’s hand inched toward her back pocket. “Well, you’re welcome.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah?”

“You said that you had secrets too? What did you mean by that?”

“Nothing. I was just being dramatic.” Ayano rolled over to her stomach and looked up at Kaiyo. The girl’s eyes were reflecting the lights on the side of the pool. “Kiss me again.” Kaiyo obliged. Ayano moved the both of them to their knees. Kaiyo was grasping at the front of her uniform, wrinkling it definitely. Ayano slid out the knife from her pocket. She held Kaiyo’s neck down to her. She was already swallowing the sounds of the girl’s gasping and moaning. She needed silence the beautiful melody of death also.

She pressed the blade into the girl’s stomach and shoved her tongue down the girl’s throat to break off any screaming. She even rubbed her knee in between Kaiyo’s legs to make her intended scream wind down to pathetic whimpering. Ayano was seeing stars as she simultaneously worked her knee rhythmically underneath the girl (ah, what a familiar sensation) and she pulled the knife across, making a deeper cut. There was some difficulty. Skin and clothing were getting in the way, but Ayano had all the night to have fun.

“Oh?” Ayano pulled back a bit. The raw taste of copper and salt was on the tip of her tongue. The girl was bleeding from the mouth. Her eyes were glazing over. Such a familiar sight. She kissed the girl again, just to get that sweet taste one more time. Ah, she could see why Yande had kissed Osana now. Pure delight erupted through her body.

She leaned back before Kaiyo could spit or cough out any blood on her. The girl was still alive, still looking and breathing. Ayano bit the girl’s lips as she dug the knife in deeper. Ooh, she punctured an organ. She knew she had to from the way Kaiyo’s eyes squeezed shut and she tried to back away. She twisted the knife and – bingo – Kaiyo’s eyes began to roll to the back of her head.

Ayano didn’t get a pretty display of intestines like she had with Osana, but this was worth it. Kaiyo’s insides were still nice to look at and not so different from hers actually. “Y-Y…” She was still alive? A merciful soul would just plunge the knife in her heart and get it over with, but Ayano had long established that she was no saint. No coups de grâce allowed.

Ayano took in a deep breath to steady herself. Her voice still trembled. “Under the rare circumstance that I do admit your secret, I swear to you that I will cut off my left pinky with this knife in your honor.” Kaiyo’s body began to shake. This girl was tough, no doubt. It only took one kick to throw her into the pool though. There was no toughing that out.

Ayano took out her phone and snapped a picture.

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ wed. – 28.jan.98 / 22:03 ♡  
>  _ >chat connected!_
> 
> _**yandere_chan** : belly up. just the way you like it_  
>  _**info_chan6** : Thank you for following directions._  
>  _**info_chan6** : 7 and 8 will be there in ten to clean up and bleach the water. I advise that you leave._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : yes maam_

The pool water was already staining crimson when Ayano forced herself to get up and walk away, chest still heaving and vision still blurry.

❀

Officer Kanon took the empty Coca-Cola can from Ayano and tried to toss it in the wastebasket for her, but he missed. He sighed as he bent down to properly through it away. “Well, Aishi, I had Murakami double check everything and your alibi checks out like the others.” He quickly chuckled. “Not that we thought you were guilty in the first place.” He leaned against the table. “Hm, how do you feel? Weren’t you in the Cooking Club when one of the girls disappeared and the others died from poisoning?”

“Yes, I was. It’s shocking, for sure. And it’s been really hard on everybody. Do you think…?” Ayano rolled her bottom lip between her teeth as she looked down. “Do you think that there’s a killer on the loose?”

“Well, I can’t reveal too much, but between you and me,” he sighed, “it seems more and more likely by the day. But don’t worry, we’ll catch whoever this punk is and lock ‘em up soon. Maybe even by the end of the week if they try to strike again.” He patted her shoulder. “We’ll keep the school safe and you protected. It’s my job. I can promise you that everything is going to be okay. Do you believe me, Aishi?”

“Yes. I do.” She sniffled to seal the deal. “Thank you, Officer Kanon. Can you give Officer Murakami my thanks too?” He nodded. She stood. “The Swim Club is definitely going to have to disband after this. I guess I shouldn’t be joining anymore clubs, huh? Bad luck seems to follow me everywhere.”

“No, you can still participate in club activities. I don’t want to take away from that. Just be safe.”

“I’ll try to, thank you.”

❀

Ayano could hear Yande loudly slurp on the soup she had thrown together for dinner on her bed. Yande had barged into her room and insisted that they had barely spoken to each other all week and needed to spend some well-deserved time together. Ayano didn’t have a voice to object.

“How was it?” Yande asked in between gulps. “Did she scream? Did she bleed a lot? Tell me.”

“Her blood filled up the entire pool and the Swim Club saw it in the morning. And I kissed her to stop her screaming.” Ayano could hear Yande drop his bowl on the floor. At least it was carpeted so he wouldn’t break anything, but she had to clean it up later. She sighed.

“I let it pass with Shiba, but you need to stop. You can’t just throw your kisses around. They’re only for me and Senpai from now on, got it?” She felt his hands grasp around her shoulders. His fingernails traced along her neck and closed in it slightly, mimicking the act of strangulation. His thumb pressed against the center of her throat. “You’re too special.”

“Careful, Yan-kun,” she whispered, voice tightening, “your Madonna-whore complex is showing.”

“Shut up.” He ran his fingers through her hair and tightened around her scalp. He forced her to look up at him. He released her throat and pressed his thumb against her lips instead. She had brushed her teeth to the point where she was spitting out her own blood to get Kaiyo out of her mouth. He pressed their lips together gently, softly and allowed her pull back from it a second later. “I love you, Yan-chan.” She didn’t respond, instead deciding to focus on how his shirt collar had gone askew and the soup stain on the knee of his pants. He tightened his grip. “What’s up? Something on your mind?”

“No.”

“Good.” He took her chin between his fingers and forced her mouth open as he kissed her again. “You taste so good, Yan,” he murmured. She sat still, legs tightly crossed. After a few minutes he released her with an unsatisfied sigh. “Give in to me,” he murmured. She only looked up at him. “Yan-chan, come on.” He rested his hands on her knees and forced her legs apart.

“Don’t do this again.” He paused only for a moment, but she knew he wasn’t reconsidering. He pulled her panties down to her ankles and lifted her skirt up.

“Describe killing Kaiyo to me again.”

“I took a knife and stabbed it into her stomach.” He spread her legs further apart.

“More detail.”

“We came back from a competition, still undefeated, and while everybody left to go celebrate Kaiyo and I went to the pool. She started getting sentimental and started kissing me and I returned the favor. She wasn’t a good kisser though. It must have been her first time.” Ayano took a quick breath. She didn’t like talking for too long and she couldn’t understand the little “exercise” that she and Yande were doing.

“Go on.”

“And then I held her against my mouth and stabbed her in the stomach. I dragged the knife to the other side of her stomach and plunged it in.” She felt her legs begin to quiver.

“There we go.” She tried to calm her body down. “So, is it the blood or the stabbing that gets you excited? I can’t tell.” She only looked up at him. He moved to unzip his own pants. She quickly reached down and pulled her underwear up. He raised an eyebrow, his hand still in front of his pants. “What are you doing?”

“Not tonight, Yan-kun.”

“Not tonight? What’s up with you lately? I remember how you were begging for me to be against you when I was getting it off to Osana.”

“I did not beg.”

“You did your own version of it.”

“Get out.”

“Fine. I was getting bored with you anyway.” He slammed the door shut behind him. The house shook.

Ayano’s phone rang. She glanced down at the screen. The number was unknown. She considered it letting it ring, but the person was unrelenting. She quickly answered it. “Hi, Yan-chan,” the other person said before she could give the standard greeting over it.

“Who is this?”

“Info-8. I decided it would be appropriate to call after that little fall out you had with your brother just now.” Ayano listened closely. She couldn’t recognize the voice. It didn’t help that she didn’t know too many males in the school either. The voice was slow and calculated just like their messages. ”How are you feeling? Murderous? Victorious, perhaps?”

“I don’t feel anything.”

“Figures. Do you need anything? Cigarettes, alcohol, something stronger, hm? You name it, I got it. Free of charge too for my favorite little killer.”

“No, thank you.”

“Ah, you’re no fun.” The person chuckled. “Oh, and I heard that little promise you made before you got to the slicing and dicing. It would be a shame if a pretty girl like you had to mutilate herself because of some promise to a dead girl—a victim of yours too, nonetheless.”

“I could get around it if it came to that.”

“Of course. If there’s a will, Yan-chan has a way. I like that about you. Anyways, goodnight. I recommend locking the door.”

“If you’re really watching over me then you can warn me of any danger.”

“Aw, you trust me that much, Yan? I’ll try not to let you down. I don’t lose sleep over this operation for nothing.” They hung up then. Ayano stared at her screen for a moment before snapping the phone back shut.

❀

> _**バブルガム✿CHUM**_  
>  ♡ fri. – 30.jan.98 / 23:58 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan7** : how are you doing?_  
>  _**yandere_kun** : fine i guess_  
>  _**info_chan7** : that convo with ur sister didn’t look good tho_  
>  _**yandere_kun** : how exactly are u watching me?_  
>  _**info_chan7** : cameras. duh._  
>  _**info_chan7** : don’t worry. you’ll start feeling better soon._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : how do you know that?_  
>  _**info_chan7** : i just do. get some sleep tonight._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : ill try dont worry mom_  
>  _**info_chan7** : just looking out for my favorite little killer!_  
>  _**yandere_kun** : ive barely been killing. feels like yan-chan does all the work_  
>  _**info_chan7** : you’ll have your opportunities in the future, don’t worry about it!_

“’Don’t worry about it’?” Yande scoffed.

> _**info_chan7** : btw, the photography club is blaming the members of the swim club that bullied kaiyo (meaning, excluding yan-chan) for kaiyo’s murder and even though the students aren’t simple enough to actually believe it, they’re eating it up. looks like there will be a little lighter atmosphere next week. go nuts with that._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : ill keep that in mind_  
>  _**info_chan7** : goodnight._

“’Night,” Yande said out loud. Surely, they could hear him. He set his phone on his nightstand and closed his eyes, but sleep just wouldn’t come to him.


	6. Loca Oka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 45%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _in this chapter:_  
>  \- pedophilia.

Who knew that being associated with a group of catty girls and a dead girl with a big unknown secret would drop Ayano’s reputation to the gutter?

It wasn’t like she cared. Walking down the hallway to the sound of hushed hearsay and dead stares was something she was familiar with. Having a hand cover her mouth and pull her into an empty classroom while the halls cleared for lunch, was certainly _unfamiliar_.

The glow from a single computer screen was the only source of light in the room. There were only three computers, not enough for it to be the computer lab or even the Photography Club. In fact, Ayano wasn’t even sure what the classroom was for. It was the room that was always closed and unlabeled. The school was so big that there were a few abandoned classrooms here and there, so Ayano never thought much about it.

“Good morning, Yan-chan.”

A growl nearly escaped her throat. “Info-8?” She turned around. The person behind her was dressed in a black trench coat – the kind that Ayano saw the businessmen wear whenever she got glimpses of the city – and the mask that Yande had worn for the Drama Club. Every inch of skin was covered and Ayano couldn’t recognize the voice if she tried anyways.

“The one and only.” They chuckled. What a soothing sound. “I know you said no the other night, but I got you some presents anyway. Your brother reached out and made a request and, I’ll admit, at first I refused, but then I took a second and really thought about it and pondered over it over the weekend and I decided to concoct a little plan.”

“What is it?”

“You already look and sound interested, I love it.” Ayano stretched out her legs and made herself comfortable. Maybe her interest was piqued just a little it after all. Info-8 ventured out into the darkness. “I have a few questions for you,” they called out.

“What?” A box slid out towards her and stopped at her feet. Ayano picked it up. It was a fairly large and unmarked. A pair of scissors slid out towards her also.

Info-8 didn’t return to her field of vision. “Let’s say that somehow this all works out. Picture this: you and Senpai are living together, happily married, and you decide to get him something for his birthday. He’s been talking about wanting a pet, so you go to the local pet shop, get the cutest kitten you can find, put a bow on it and everything, and give to him. But—surprise!—you give it him and find out he’s allergic. What would you do then?”

Ayano got to work on opening the box. “Break the cat’s neck and then get him some medication.”

“What would you do if he died before you did?”

“I would kill myself.”

“What if your brother decided to keep him all to himself and not share with you?” Ayano’s hands froze on the lids of the box. “Ah, did I strike a nerve there?” She shook her head. “What would you do? Tell me, I’m curious now.”

“I don’t know.”

“What a boring answer. And hurry up and open the box. You’re killing me.” She carefully laid out the items inside the box in front of her. There was a _tantou_ – a short traditional blade; this one looked around fifteen or so centimeters long – in a black case, a pair of black leather gloves, and a skirt. The blade was the _hira_ type, pretty common, simple, and basic, but would certainly do the job when needed. It glistened in the computer’s light. She inspected the skirt. Unfolding it, she saw that it contained hidden pockets and holsters. “Do you like them?”

She sheathed the blade back into its case, folded the skirt back up, and neatly laid the gloves on top. “Why are you giving me this?”

“It’s your own little murder starter kit. Initially I wanted to give you something very special like a rare type blade such as a _kubikiri_ , but I figured that a blade with an inside curve is really better for aesthetic purposes than physical because it doesn’t have a sharpened point. And then I thought about giving you a double-edged blade, but then I ultimately decided to settle on something more common and uncomplicated. And the skirt is specially made. You can carry weapons on your person now at all times without having anything in your locker or backpack in case they do random searches.” Ayano only looked down at the gifts. “Oh, I can see your confusion. Let me explain.” She heard Info take a step closer to her. “So, your brother and I came up with this together because we both crave something out of you, but you’re proving to be a tough cookie to crack. We’ve decided upon this ultimatum: pain or pleasure. Make your choice.”

“Pain or pleasure,” Ayano parroted. “Elaborate.”

“First off, I just want to say that you’re a naughty girl, Yan-chan. I mean, you lick the blood out of a girl’s mouth and then get all hot and heavy thinking about it later? I almost thought you were the innocent one of the bunch.” She didn’t respond. “Anyways, I can give you your own exclusive weapon, pair of gloves, and skirt—free of charge—if you tell me this little secret about Kaiyo Puru. I mean, it’s a pretty sweet deal to me. Spill a secret, lose a finger, but you still get some pretty nice stuff out of it.”

Ayano found herself gazing down at the gifts again. It would make things easier, yes. But she couldn’t help but ask, “What’s the other option?”

“First off, I will like to say that this was your brother’s idea, not mine.” Another box slid over to her, not taped shut. It was filled to the brim with underwear. “No more panties. Ever.” She actually frowned.

“This is stupid.”

“Yeah, I agree with you on that one. Oh, and you have to let him do this kill too. He was all whining about how he’s missing out and shit.”

“And what if I refuse?”

“Easy.” They stepped out of the darkness again, two blades held in their gloved hands. “I can be pretty persuasive when the occasion calls for it, Yan.”

She looked down at the items again. It was a simple choice, really. She pushed the gifts back toward Info.

“Oh? I’m surprised, but not at the same time.” They shrugged. “Give me the underwear you’re wearing now. Good thing you’re not wearing stockings today, huh?” They chuckled, like this was all some type of joke. Ayano took them off and tossed them out in the darkness. Info caught them on one of the blades. “Have a good day, killer.” Ayano only nodded.

What an unwelcome interference to her routine.

❀

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ mon. – 2.feb.98 / 11:16 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan7** : this kill is all yours!_  
>  _**info_chan7** : you’re welcome!!_

“Psst.” Yande looked around, interrupted from typing out his reply. “Psst, Aishi-san.” He sighed. Was it another pest from the Photography Club coming to bother him again?

“What?” He called out. And they were hiding too? Great. The first girl must have told the rest of the club that he was a tough cookie to crack or something and they had come back to annoy him as revenge. He didn’t need a vendetta against the club anyway. He already had too much on his plate.

“Come here,” the voice whispered. He sighed again. He shouldn’t roam the halls during lunch anymore. It was when the weirdoes came out (not like he didn’t classify as one, but still).

“Where?”

“The Occult room.” Ugh. Oka Ruto was the target of the week though, so he guessed that that was a good thing. He slid the door open and stepped inside. The room was dark save for some candles littered around the room and on a few desks here and there. The person who had beckoned him sat down and Oka took their place instead. She was… an interesting sight indeed. Actually, in Yande’s eyes, she might turn out to be a cute girl without the dark makeup and if she brushed her hair. Maybe he could find out for himself later.

“What do you guys want?” Someone shut the door behind him. Oka looked down and twiddled her thumbs for a moment before she looked back up at him. He was considerably taller than the girl, and she slouched down anyways.

“Your, um, sister saw it right?”

“Saw what?” He looked around the room. A couple of the members were reading, seemingly uninterested, while the others were staring at him.

“You know, it. T-The body. T-The, um, the Swim Club members found her, right? So, uh, we were, um, wondering If your sister s-saw it and if she, um, told you about it?” She bit her lip. “I was wondering if she might have told you what it, uh, looked like or anything, but if she didn’t that’s cool too, you can, um, leave if you want.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, I saw.” Oka’s eyes widened. One of the book readers was looking at him now.

“Y-You saw?” Her voice squeaked.

“Yeah.” He smirked. “Wanna see?” He pulled out his phone. It was risky, but who cared? They were going to be dead before the week was done. Before he knew it the club was surrounding him. He brought up the picture that Info-7 had sent him from the post-Kaiyo message between Ayano and the original Info-chan. It was just enough to make out the split in the stomach and redness spreading throughout the pool water. The club members gasped with sick fascination.

“W-Wow, you can see her guts.”

“Look at her eyes.”

“And the water too.”

“H-How’d you get this?” Oka asked.

“Ayano took it for the police and she sent it to me.” He pocketed his phone again. The message from Info-7 still burned in the back of his mind. He was really going to get the opportunity to do the killing this week after everything has been so Ayano-centric? He could scoff at that, but he wanted to see how things worked out.

“Cool,” Oka breathed out. “Um, thanks for showing us. I can, uh, pay for you to get s-something to drink or—”

He cut her off with a chuckle. “No, no. I don’t want your money. I want just an itty, bitty favor.”

“O-Oh? Um, okay, I guess?”

“I just want to join this club and another club at the same time. That’s all.”

“W-What other club are you joining?”

“Uh, I’m thinking Photography.” He shrugged. “Because, you know—no offense, but this club isn’t the best… look for me right now? Especially with my sister connected to some girl who just got bullied and murdered, I mean, her friends have been dropping like flies. And I actually kind of like you guys, but the Photography Club is riding my ass about what happened with Drama Club, so joining them might be a good thing.” The scratched the back of his head. “Does that make sense?”

“Um, I think so?”

“Okay, good. I’ll see you later then?”

“I-I’ll be looking forward to it.” She smiled. He smiled back.

❀

Yande ran through the names in his head: Nakatani Mari was the girl who had pestered him last week, Wakimoto Kimi was a girl with short hair and the leader of the club, Beppu Masahiko was a guy with a wide grin and talked too much, Wotoru Shashin was the guy with too much gel in his hair, and Shimu Tano was the quiet guy who had stared at Yande the moment he said he wanted to join the club. Yande thumbed his finger over around the rim of the camera lenses. He had this in the bag.

“Aishi-san,” one of the girls called out, the head of the club. He swiveled his hair around to face her. “Perfect time for you to join, and I mean that in all sarcastic ways possible.”

“Why? What’s up?”

“We’re in deep water over our last issue on the Swim Club. Wotoru-kun wanted to publish this theory that the chicks in the Swim Club did the deed on Kaiyo and at first things were swell and dandy, but that was because everybody was actually taking it seriously before they realized that it was a little more fiction than fact.”

“Hey!” Wotoru shouted. “I’m just your basic, run-of-the-mill yellow journalist, what do you want from me? And you shouldn’t have approved it, dumbass, if you knew that we were gonna catch heat for it!”

“Shut up! How was I supposed to know? I can’t predict the fucking future. Do I look like one of those Occult Club freaks?” She huffed as she turned back to Yande.

“Maybe it isn’t such a bad thing?” Yande suggested. She raised an eyebrow at him.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you guys got the school feeling good about itself over the weekend. A little lie took away everybody’s fear for just a little while.”

The members all threw glances toward each other and the one guy stilled stared down Yande. They all simultaneously shrugged before returning back to their work. “Not like we weren’t lying in the first place,” one of them joked. Yande leaned back against his seat, feet on the desk, and shifted through pictures like he was asked to.

❀

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ tue. – 3.feb.98 / 10:58 ♡  
>  _ >chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan7** : well, the plan got screwed._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : what do u mean_  
>  _**info_chan7** : that sub, ogazumu seiko, the one that likes senpai a little too much, came early because the teacher she’s subbing for went into labor prematurely._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : shit_  
>  _**yandere_kun** : now what?_  
>  _**info_chan7** : you got double duty this week, that’s what._  
>  _**info_chan7** : have fun!! at least yan-chan isn’t doing all the work, right?_  
>  _**yandere_kun** : would it be okay if i passed oka ruto to her while i work on the sub_  
>  _**info_chan7** : no. i put in a lot of hard work to make sure that this was your kill this week._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : what did you do exactly_  
>  _**info_chan7** : nothing too drastic, don’t worry. just pretended to be you to info-8 so that he would go and make a deal with yan-chan so that you would be the one killing this week instead of her._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : …_  
>  _**yandere_kun** : idk how to feel about that_  
>  _**info_chan7** : it’s fine. nobody suspects a thing. just do your thing and everything should fine since i don’t think you’re supposed to kill the sub, just distract her from senpai, right?_  
>  _**yandere_kun** : right_

❀

Was it easy to begin an affair with some substitute from Yokohama after their first meeting together? Surprisingly, yes. Was Yande enjoying said affair? Unsurprisingly, no. He made sure to throw a flirty grin back at the teacher as she pulled up her pantyhose and fixed her hair. Her lipstick was still smuged though. He had already wiped the marks away from his neck and stomach.

“Same thing tomorrow, big boy?” She kissed his cheek again and let the touch linger.

“Bet on it.” He chuckled and everything. When she shut the closet door behind her, he let out a breath and a frown as he rubbed at his cheek with the back of his jacket sleeve. Well, he could safely say that Senpai wasn’t missing out on anything.

He waited a few minutes before walking out. The supply closet was always a classy place for classy people. First Osana and now Ogazumu-sensei. Who was next?

“Aishi-san?” He actually winced before he turned around. It was Beppu Masahiko, the loudmouthed one. What luck. “Whoa, whoa, whoa—dude.” His mouth and eyes were wide open, looking back and forth between Ogazumu, still sauntering away with the clicking of her heels going off into the distance, and a frowning Yande. “Did you just do what I think you just did, man?”

“Uh, n—?”

“Yes the fuck you did! Don’t lie to me, man!” Beppu was running back and forth in the hall now, running his fingers through his hair. “Wait until the club hears this! I mean, a student-teacher affair? Haven’t had one of those in a while.”

Yande fixed the top button on his uniform. “What’re you talking about? You can’t publish something like that in the paper. The teachers review everything before it gets published.”

Beppu stopped pacing. “Why would I put something like this in the school paper? I’m posting it on BubblegumChum. Duh.”

“What do you want so we can keep this between you and me? Do you want money, a picture of something scandalous? What?” He shook his head. Yande held back a snarl.

“Nothing gets in the way of scoop, pal. See ya later.” The dude practically skipped down the hallway.

Yande stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked down the hall. He was going to eat up on the roof or by the fountain or in a classroom or something like the normal kids did. So much for going out in the halls again. Still, he made a detour from his class to the Occult Club room. At least they weren’t working on his last nerve.

Oka sheepishly smiled when she opened up the doors for him to come in. Only a couple of kids were in the room that day, eating lunch and smoking while talking about some type of demon that Yande had never heard of before. Oka beckoned Yande to sit down next to her and handed him a drink. He wrinkled his nose as he sipped it. Watered down vodka hidden in a water bottle. Oh well. He wasn’t one to bite the hand that fed him.

“Anything going on, Ruto?” He asked. She bit her lip and looked around the room.

“Um, t-there’s a, uh, half-moon tonight.”

“First or last quarter?” Her smile widened.

“First. So we decided to go to my house tonight, and, um, I wanted to ask if you’re interested in going or not?” He nodded. How could he say no to that face?

“I’ll be there. Text me the address.” She nodded. She stared at him blankly for a moment. Thank goodness Yande had adopted that half-assed conversationalist bone in the family. “So, uh, what are they talking about?” Yande asked. Oka’s eyes brightened again and she began to shakily explain everything. Yande really didn’t mean to make her world and he actually found himself genuinely nodding along and listening to everything she said. She had a way about her that just made her fascinating somehow. The girl was certainly an enigma, and he could relate.

Was this how Ayano felt about Sweetie?

❀

Yande cleaned out his ears with a towel as he settled himself on the couch. Ayano was going back and forth, cleaning this, tidying up that. “Is there something going on? Why’re you cleaning so much?” She paused wiping the television screen and looked at him, expression blank. It said volumes to him though. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”

“Info-8 took me into a room and made me a deal.” She sprayed the screen again and wiped it until it squeaked. “They offered me a skirt with hidden pockets, gloves, and a blade.”

“A blade? Like a sword or something? I guess he knows that you have a sword fetish.”

“’He’?”

“Don’t jump down my throat again. Info-7 referred to 8 as ‘he’ in a message today. You can look at it too if you want proof.”

“I should be looking through your messages anyway.” She moved on to the coffee table. Yande moved his feet out of the way so she could dust.

“What do you mean?”

“Info-8 told me that you wanted part of the deal. He took away all of my underwear and made sure that you were doing the kill this week by your request.”

“Good thing you brought that up actually. 7 just told me that they pretended to be me to 8 so that I could be guaranteed to get the kill this week.”

She stopped again. “Oh.” She set down the cleaning supplies on the table with a little more force than needed.

“Yeah, I’ll tell them not to do any more sneaky stuff behind our backs if you want, but no promises.” He tossed the towel towards her and she caught it. “Trust no one, like mother dearest always says, I guess.” He got up and took the towel from her. “I’ll toss this in the wash actually. I’m going out tonight.” She still followed behind him.

“Where are you going?”

“Ruto’s place. She personally invited me.” He waggled his eyebrows. “It’s only been two days though and she seems like an innocent, conservative girl, so I guess I’m going to be in for some pure and wholesome entertainment. Maybe we’ll summon a demon or something while talking about how much life sucks. And then she can show me her choker collection while I sharpen her knives or something.”

“Knives,” Ayano repeated. “Info-8 gave me a _tantou_ blade.”

“Are those the short blades? Come on, you’re the blade expert here, not me. All I know is that when something is sharp and pointy it does damage.”

“He had multiple ones,” Ayano continued, “and _tantoujutsu_ is a martial art that specifically practices with _tantou_ blades. Maybe he’s part of the Marital Arts Club?”

“Maybe so.” Yande pulled on a shirt from the drier. “Nice reasoning skills, detective. Maybe you should join the club and see what’s going on.” He patted her backside before he left the room. “And did you say you’re not allowed to wear underwear anymore?” She nodded. “I wouldn’t request that. That’s stupid.”

❀

“Pink?” Yande settled himself on the bed.

“My mother wouldn’t let me paint the walls black.” The other members filed into the room. Oka’s parents were gone and the neighborhood was pretty sparse. Info-7 had already manipulated any messages that gave away where Yande was for the night and his membership to the Occult Club technically wasn’t valid since he was officially signed to the Photography Club. It was like he had absolutely no affiliation with the club whatsoever. He was a living ghost amongst them.

“A-Aishi?” Yande snapped out of his thoughts and turned toward Oka.

“Yeah?”

“When’s your birthday?”

“It’s the first of April.”

“I knew he was an Aries,” one of the members said. “Pay up.”

“Are you older or younger than your twin?” Oka asked.

“I’m older by seven hours.”

“They let one twin stay in for that long?” A member asked. Yande shrugged. He wasn’t the childbirth expert.

The conversation continued on about things that Yande wasn’t interested in. He caught Oka staring at him a few times. He didn’t understand what was up with people staring at him lately.

Oka cleared her throat after they locked eyes for the third time. “Aishi, do you know who, uh, Yamada Taro is?” He nodded. “You know, you kinda look like him.” Well, this was new.

“Really?”

“Y-Yeah. S-Same hair, uh, height. Um, only difference is Yamada’s face is sorta softer than yours? Like, his smile is, um, nicer?”

“Are you saying that I’m Yamada’s evil twin or something?” He couldn’t help but smile. This was honestly amusing.

“N-No, no!”

“Too late, you already said it.” He gave a goodhearted laugh as he stood up. “I’m going to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” He made sure to shut the door behind him.

He went to the front door and opened it. A pair of gloves and a knife was underneath the flowerpot to the right, like Info had promised. He wiped the knob before he closed and locked the door behind him. He went out back. An unused cello case was ready. Good. At least this was going according to plan.

He poked his head into the room. “Hey Ruto, think you can show me where the drinks are?”

“Y-Yeah, sure.” He locked the door once she was out of earshot. Good thing her room didn’t have any windows. Looks like his luck was turning up after all. He even put his hand on her back as they walked to the kitchen. He felt her shiver underneath his touch. “O-Oh, uh, when did you get gloves?”

“Just now. Are you cold or is it just me?” He moved his hand a little lower. She trembled again.

“Y-Yeah, just a, uh, little bit. Um, what do you want to d-drink?”

“Nothing actually.”

“O-Oh.” She looked down. “Then why did you bring me out here?”

“I wanted to show you something.” He grinned. “Close your eyes.” She didn’t even hesitate before closing them. He took her hands. “It’s outside.” He led her out. It was getting dark. The half-moon shone down upon them. He took one hand away from her to open up the box. “Ready?” He whispered in her ear.

“Aishi, what are you even going to show me?”

“You’ll see.” He lifted her up and spun her around for good measure. “I’ll be back.” He tucked her inside the box and locked the lid shut.

Now, was it easy to kill five people all locked in a room together? Unsurprisingly, no. They screamed, they tried to run. One actually gained an ounce of courage and tried to fight him back. A quick plunge of the knife through the chest was enough to get the “brave” one down though.

This definitely made up for everything. Osana had been a joint case, Sweetie turned into a selfish one, the Cooking Club girls was an uncalled for solo mission, Haruka had ultimately died at the hands of another along with the other Drama Club girl, and Kaiyo was a Ayano solo case too. “Now it’s my turn,” Yande found himself saying as he ran the knife across the last throat.

He surveyed the room when he was done. It was a literal bloodbath. Ayano would cream her pants at the sight of this. And she wasn’t wearing any panties either. It would be running between her legs and she would get that look on her face where her cheeks would get all red and she would start biting her lip until the skin broke.

He wiped the image from his mind before the room got too hot.

❀

Yande carried pretty little Oka down the basement steps over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and tied her up nice and tight to a chair Ayano had brought down. Ayano stood in the corner of the room now, watching. “How does it feel to be the watcher for once?” Yande asked.

“Spectacular.”

“I never tire of your sarcasm, Yan-Yan.” Yande took off his gloves and tossed them aside. “How’s Sosuke? Did he eat?” Ayano nodded. “Still in the bathroom?” Ayano nodded again. “Bring him out for me. Thanks.” He could hear Sosuke moan and groan in the other room. Yande had to give to the guy. Fourteen entire days spent inside of a cold basement bathroom with an uncertain fate? Rough. “Oh, and can you bring me a wet cloth too?”

Ayano dragged Sosuke out with one hand and tossed Yande a cloth with another. He wiped away the gratuitous amount of eye shadow away from around Oka’s eyes. She still had some dark rings around her eyes, but she looked much, much better. He swept her messy hair away from her forehead and tightened his fingers around her scalp.

“You’re a little cutie, huh?” She only looked up at him. He crouched down to her level. “How about a kiss, hm?” He laughed in her face and wrapped his hands around her neck. “It’s about time I got to play.” He squeezed, just enough to get her gasping and her eyes rolling, before he let go. Already bluing marks were on her neck. He ran his tongue over them. He could feel the girl whimper and shiver underneath him.

“I managed to kill five people all locked in a room together like some type of B-movie psycho.” He breathlessly dragged his tongue over the shell of her ear as he began to unbutton her shirt. “Lucky me, right?” He could hear Sosuke struggling behind him. Good thing he was gagged. Yande didn’t need any screaming or protests while he was in his element. “You taste good,” he murmured.

“S-Stop,” she whispered, trying to pull away. Yande was fed up with being slow. He used the knife to rip open the rest of the shirt and through her skirt. Good thing she hadn’t changed out of her uniform after school. Jeans would’ve been annoying to get through. He ripped through her undergarments too. She wasn’t the _most_ endowed and he could see strands of pubic hair from in between her thighs as she tried to cover herself, but she wasn’t too hard on the eyes. “Aishi,” she gasped out, voice raspy, “w-w-why?”

“Why not?” He ran the underside of the knife over her nipple and she flinched away. He pressed his lips against hers for shits and giggles. Why was it so easy to fetishize the art of torture? What was the appeal to it? He searched for the answer in his mind as his tongue ran over her teeth. He felt heat gathering in the pit of his stomach and he was slowly grinding against the girl’s leg. “Ruto…” He looked into her eyes. They were tearing up and quivering. “It’s only Tuesday. I have two more days to have fun with you.” He kissed her cheek. She tasted better than the sub that morning. The woman smoked too much and it was evident. Yande had never seen Oka smoke like some of the other club members did. He still forced himself to pull away. “But let me demonstrate my skills for you.” He turned around to Sosuke.

Ayano automatically moved back as Yande approached. He removed the gag and Sosuke immediately gave a blood curdling scream. A good punch right in the teeth was in order. Yande only had to nurse his fist for a moment before he got back to business. He managed to chip a tooth and the fragment disappeared down Sosuke’s throat. He plunged the knife into the man’s flesh – _sixth time tonight, amazing_ – over and over and over again until his actions became a blur. This was something he would never ever tire of.

The wet squelch of blade breaking through skin and the stream of blood was certainly inviting, especially for the sixth time in one night. Adrenaline pumped through Yande’s veins. It was his time. He skewered the knife through Sosuke’s right eye. He screamed, screamed, screamed until Yande held his mouth open by the teeth and cut his tongue out.

A mantra of how much he deserved this echoed through Yande’s mind as he turned the boy’s eye socket into a soupy mess of gore.

_I deserve this._

He tore the optic nerve in half for fun.

_It’s my time._

He knocked out another tooth for fun.

_I can do this._

He nearly collapsed in exhaustion trying to slice the boy’s belly open to get a view of those wonderful intestines (for fun).

_Yes, I can._

❀

Ayano was awoken by the buzz of her cellphone. It didn’t help that she had been hearing weird noises all night long. It took forever for her to block them out. She forced herself to squint down at the message she had received.

> _**バブルガム✿CHUM**_  
>  ♡ thu. – 5.feb.98 / 00:41 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan8** : See what happens when you sleep alone?_  
>  _**info_chan8** : Go to your brother’s room. I know you’re curious._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : go to bed_  
>  _**info_chan8** : I can’t when there’s so much action going on._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Go see for yourself._

Ayano groggily got out of bed. No panties meant she had to rummage through her brother’s laundry for a pair of his underwear to borrow for the night. She didn’t even want to confront Info-8 about it. Not now anyway.

She quietly padded down the hallway toward her brother’s room. The sounds only intensified. She pressed her ear against the door. She could clearly hear the barely breathes and the moaning and the sound of skin slapping against skin. It sent a shiver down her spine – a bad one. She hated the sound. The tune of bones breaking was pleasanter. She opened the door anyway.

The nearly full moon bathed their forms in blue light. Oka’s wrists and ankles were bound and Yande was holding the girl up, bouncing her in his lap as he was trailing kisses all over her face and neck and chest.

He slowed his pace as he glanced at her. “Good morning, Yan-chan.” His tone was all breathy, just the way she hated it. “Are you joining, watching, or leaving?”

“Leaving.” She didn’t mean to slam the door shut.

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ thu. – 5.feb.98 / 00:45 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan8** : He “promised” to let her go if she had sex with him. Classic._  
>  _**info_chan8** : We could have some fun, you know._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : no_  
>  _**info_chan8** : How about it: I’ll give you your underwear back, washed and everything, if you spend the night with me._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : no_  
>  _**info_chan8** : You drive a hard bargain._  
>  _**info_chan8** : I’ll see if I can cook up a better deal next week._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : dont_

She went back to sleep without a hitch.

❀

“Aw, Ogazumu-sensei, you’re leaving so soon?” He pouted and everything.

“Oh, don’t look so sad, baby boy.” She kissed his cheek. He didn’t understand why she favored cheek kisses so much. Wiping off her lipstick was a bitch. “I’ll be gone after the assembly today. Wanna meet in the classroom after?” He nodded. “Bye, baby. Be a good boy and don’t be late.”

“I won’t.” Yande made sure to wait a good period of time before he left the closet. There were only a couple of students in the hall, but they were already too far to see him leave. They were whispering to each other. Probably about the assembly. It had been randomly called and everybody already knew what was about to be discussed.

He found a seat in the front row next to Ayano. She had saved a seat for him. How thoughtful. “What do you think this is all about?” He whispered. Ayano only rolled her eyes.

The guidance counselor stood up to the podium. She was wearing an ill-fitting black jacket over her outfit. She was usually one to wear tight and revealing attire, but today was not the case. The usual pinched frown on her face was absent also, replaced with a sober expression instead.

“Good afternoon, students. I am your counselor, Kunahito Genka, speaking on behalf of the headmaster today since he could not make it to the assembly.” Yande let a breath out through his nose. Figures. The headmaster was never around. “This meeting was called because there has been controversy surrounding the various unconfirmed disappearances and confirmed deaths of multiple students attending this school and we are facing much scrutiny for our decision to not close things down from outside sources. Meaning, it’s not your parents who are concerned, it’s boards from other prefectures over and parents from other countries, even the United States.

“The faculty and board all gathered yesterday and continued the meeting into this morning and we have reached a consensus on this decision: we are not closing down the school.” A nervous murmur went through the crowd. Kunahito only needed to hold up one finger to bring back the silence. “Due to our own and parents’ wishes, we do not want anyone to miss out on their education. We pride ourselves on learning, no matter what the circumstances are. Hopefully other countries will realize this.” She smirked momentarily before continuing, “We have also denied the police’s request to install security cameras on campus because we do not want to cause discomfort onto the student body or the faculty members. We do not want to build an environment where we act like there is something to be afraid of. But, we have agreed to let the police issue random locker checks and we advise for you all to keep your lockers locked at all times and if you have a cellar device we are allowing for you to keep it on your body at all times instead of requiring them in the locker during class time.” She stepped down from the podium. “You are dismissed. Resume to your regular schedules.”


	7. A Clockwork Wonderful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 25%

Due to the substitute teacher arriving a week early causing the temporarily mess up of schedule, the Aishi twins had a free week from the sixth to the fifteenth. Initially, Ayano and Yande didn’t know what to make of it, but it did somehow produce the first three-way group chat with all of the Info-chan’s.

> _**バブルガム✿CHUM**_  
>  ♡ sat. – 7.feb.98 / 00:15 ♡  
>  _> group chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan7** : what are they supposed to do then?? just sit around all week???_  
>  _**info_chan8** : They still have Sosuke and Ruto’s bodies to dispose of._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Check camera three._  
>  _**info_chan7** : what’s on cam 3?? i’m not looking the aishi feed right now._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Shit._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : is there something wrong_  
>  _**info_chan8** : Yeah, Ruto’s still kicking. Go down and finish her off._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Why are you not looking at the Aishi feed, 7?_  
>  _**info_chan7** : i’m checking ruto’s feed for your information. the police haven’t discovered the camera, so i’m taking it down tomorrow when they leave. and they left their papers out so i took pictures. apparently we have a survivor._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Why can’t the Occult Club just fucking die._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Survivor? Elaborate._  
>  _**info_chan7** : well, churu supana somehow made it out alive. she lost a lot of blood though and is in buraza general. i went through the cams and files there and she is currently recovering from surgery and the police are waiting for her to get in a well enough condition to speak._  
>  _**info_chan6** : Well then, looks like we’re not going to be sitting ducks this week. Hop to it, bootlickers._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Yes, ma’am._  
>  _**info_chan7** : yes ma’am!! (´・ω・`)_  
>  _**yandere_kun** : got ya_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : bye_

❀

Ayano walked down the basement stairs slowly, surely. She let the sound of her footsteps linger. She slammed the door behind her. The sound echoed in the basement. Her ears perked at the sound of a nearly silent gasp and a shaky breath.

She turned on the basement light and it highlighted the still-wet blood stains puddled on the floor. Ayano frowned when she felt her sock soak when she stepped in one. She tried to walk on tip-toe, avoiding the stains, but it was proving to be a bit futile. Yande had had his fun with Sosuke, Ayano knew that (and it actually wasn’t _too bad_ to watch), but the details were still blurry with Oka. When she asked after the assembly, he had insisted that Oka had been taken care of. Ayano bit her tongue from making a remark about _how taken care of_ the girl had been from what she saw.

Ayano looked over Sosuke first. The poor boy’s face had been mutilated beyond recognition and his leftover parts lied idle by his feet. Ayano probed at the severed tongue with her toe. It was still warm. She bent down – ugh, she was only wearing long socks and an oversized shirt for pajamas and she could feel the cold basement air on her… _exposed lower half_ – and looked closely at the boy’s face. She bent her finger and placed it underneath his nose. He definitely wasn’t breathing. All the color was drained from his cheeks and he had already leaked his postmortem excrement and other fluids onto the floor. Death: confirmed. On to the next.

Oka was propped up against the faraway wall. There wasn’t nearly as much bloodshed around her as there was with Sosuke. Ayano bent down to the girl’s level and picked up the girl’s head by the chin. She put her finger underneath the girl’s nose. No breath. Ayano sighed. She transferred the knife that she had brought to her other hand and held it against the girl’s neck, just a hair above her skin. Ayano felt the girl tremble. She leaned back on the balls of her feet and cocked her head. If she were her brother she would have smirked and uttered some type of witty remark.

Ayano stood up and kicked the girl over. She used her foot to reposition her to face the light. Oka was still in her shred clothes. There was dried blood on her face and a scar on her neck. It looked like Yande had just slit her throat and kept it going. There was also a dried clear substance on her stomach. Ayano wrinkled her nose at the smell.

Oka was slow to become a whimpering mess. All it took was a few twirls of the knife and the girl was shaking. She turned her eyes up to Ayano. Ayano frowned. She could have sworn that the Occult Club members had a thing with covering one of their eyes from what she recalled. All except Oka. It was right eye if her memory served her correctly. It looked like it was time to correct the issue.

Ayano positioned the knife right in front of the girl’s right eye. “S-Sto—!” She sputtered and coughed. Some splatters of blood came from her mouth and landed on Ayano’s shirt.

“I can’t stop,” Ayano murmured, “when I’m just trying to fix a problem.” She propped open the girl’s eyelids with her fingers and got to work, digging the tip of the knife into the girl’s bottom lid. “What makes you so special?”

“Y-Ya— _stop_ , please!”

“I can’t stop,” Ayano repeated. “I have to finish what my brother started.” With a sick pop, she cut into the bottom of the eye. The girl screamed until her voice was hoarse, until her eye slipped out, until Ayano sliced the nerve in half and took a step back, admiring her work. Blood was dripping from the girl’s eye, down her nose, and trailing down between the valley of her breasts and disappearing down her stomach.

Oka still struggled though. She managed to turn her body around and get on her knees. Ayano watched, arms crossed. The girl managed to stumble up to her knees. Ayano kicked her down again. She flipped the girl over with her foot, leaned down, and pressed her fingers into the gash she made. Oka had nothing left to scream with, no more tears to cry with. Her other eye looked around the room wildly before she settled on Ayano. Blood, tissue, and more precious softness that the human body possessed jammed and squished beneath Ayano’s fingers and she slowly dug her fingernails in and curved her fingers deeper inside. Sweet warmth enveloped all around them. Oka’s pained pants quickly turned into gags. Ayano clicked her tongue and slowly began to move her fingers back and forth, back and forth in a nearly mesmerizing rhythm, drawing up more blood, more gore. Her vision was going in and out and her breath was only quickening while Oka’s was slowing down.

The girl’s mouth and eyes stayed wide open when she finally kicked the bucket. Ayano wiggled her fingers one final time before she pulled herself out from the girl’s socket. How enjoyable. Yande should have done the same with Sosuke.

“Good job.” Ayano looked up. Yande, only in his pajama pants, stood at the top of the stairway. He cocked his head toward the doorway and walked back up. Briefly controlled by logic, Ayano leaned down one last time and held her finger below the girl’s nose. No breath. She then went to follow after her brother.

The world swirled into a blur around her. She felt her shoulders heave up and down with every breath her body forced in and out of her lungs. She found herself in the kitchen and Yande’s hand was in front of her. She could only stare down at it. She felt the knife that was still tightly clenched in her hand be wrenched away and tossed elsewhere.

Those hands were all over her now, and she could feel bare skin pressed against hers. She could only haul in another breath and try to blink the fuzziness away. She could feel her back be pushed against a corner and maybe trying to push away was a late reaction, because her hands were only brought down again.

“Yan-chan,” she heard. She opened her eyes and tried to look around. She could focus somewhat again. Yande was in front of her. Hadn’t he spoken to her earlier? He had a weird look on his face. She always hated that expression. She reached up and tried to touch his face. Redness streaked onto his cheek suddenly, but he leaned into her touch anyway. “Yan,” he whispered. She tried to touch his lips, where the source of that strange, breathy voice was, but he pulled her hand away again.

She felt him breathe against her neck, felt his lips drag across her skin. “Do you even know what watching you do that did to me? I shouldn’t have watched.” He took a step back. “Want me to run you a bath?” She must have nodded. She was being taken by the arm down the hall now.

Her socks and shirt were pulled off. Her toes curled upon contact with the cold floor tiles. The sound of a pipe squeaking and water rushing sounded so distant. She felt herself wobble back and forth. She felt like she was on the edge of a cliff, teetering on the very tips of her toes. One wrong move and she would go crashing down into oblivion.

“Breathe, Yan-Yan. Get it together.” She listened. Suddenly she was in water. Her body turned lax and she leaned her head against the back of the tub. “There we go.” Was the voice cooing at her? “Don’t make that face. Just relax.” There were bubbles surrounding her. They looked nice. She reached out to touch them, but they popped and the water turned a murky, orangey hue.

“I’m going to Buraza General later to work on finishing off that one girl. Info-7 sent me a nurse’s outfit and stole a badge and everything.” He sighed. “I wish you could come with me.” She only looked up at him. He took out a washcloth, wet it with clear water, and began to clean her hands. “I don’t know why. I think it would be fun to break into a hospital and off a patient together.”

“It would,” she whispered. She looked down at her hands once he finished. He even cleaned the bits of filth that had gotten underneath her fingernails.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“A little.”

“That’s good.” Fingers hooked underneath her chin and brought her head up. Yande’s eyes were so brown, like hers. He was kissing her again. She allowed it. Things had really turned around after their argument. In the end, the Info-chan’s were more concerned about it than they were. He let out a breath through his nose. “Sex has become a reoccurring theme these days, huh?”

“I guess so.”

“I mean, there’s you and me, then you and Kaiyo almost, and then me and Ruto.”

“Info-8 said that if I spend the night with him then he would give my underwear back.”

“Oh, really?” She nodded. “Don’t.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Good.” He leaned back. “I’m going to try and enjoy myself with the girl at the hospital because I know that the delinquents are all yours.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m with the Photography Club so I have to look like a goody two-shoes, but because of the drama with Swim Club nobody’s giving you the time of day right now. I’m sure the delinquents will actually talk back when you speak to them now instead of turning up their noses.”

“Right.” He kissed her again. “Bye, Yan-kun.”

“Bye, Yan-chan. Don’t stay in too long. You don’t want to get all wrinkly like Grand _Sobo_.”

“Grand _Sobo_ looks nice for eighty-eight.”

“Sure, you guys keep telling yourselves that.”

“Don’t disrespect our great-great-great grandmother like that, especially when she’s sick.”

Yande looked down suddenly. “Do you think she’s really sick? Or did mother come up with an excuse to go hunt down our dad or something?” Ayano shrugged. “You’re no help, Yan-chan.”

❀

Ayano made her way to the Martial Arts Club at the end of the day. Another member entered alongside her and there were five already in the room, including the club president. She made her way over to him. His arms were crossed and he had a wide grin on his face. “Hi.” She smiled. She quickly sized him up. His arms were crossed and she swore that he was scowling before she spoke to him. Was it because of her? Maybe her “bad” reputation had spread to him also.

“Hello,” he said back. “You’re the Aishi sister, right?”

“I am. And you’re Masuta.”

“I am! But you can just call me Budo.” He had a loud, commanding voice. Certainly not the same as the cool, collected voice that Info-8 possessed. Maybe it was someone else in the club. “What brings you here? Are you considering joining the Marital Arts Club?”

“Um, I don’t know. I just wanted to ask some questions.”

“Oh, you got questions?” He moved his hands to his hips. “Shoot.”

“What do you practice here?”

“Well, in the club we do jujutsu, judo, and karate. I originally wanted to do Chinese martial arts, like JKD, you know, the one that Bruce Lee founded—”

“ _Jeet Kune Do_?”

“Oh?” His smile widened and he took a step closer to her. “Do you happen to be a fan?”

“I just know a little something about the arts.” She shrugged. “But you were saying?”

“I was saying we do jujutsu, judo, and karate, no Chinese arts because the headmaster didn’t approve for some reason.” He rolled his eyes. “Which sucks, but I can manage.”

“Do you do any swordsmanship type stuff?”

“Like… kendo?” She nodded. “Uh, we could. We have a katana actually. See.” He gestured toward the wall behind her. She glanced at it. The sword hung up high on the wall, surrounded by posters of various fighters (with a reoccurring theme of Bruce Lee). It looked pretty unused. “I got the okay on that, but the members are more interested in fists than swords, so,” he shrugged. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m just interested in swords, that’s all.”

“Specifically katana?”

“Yes, and _tantou_ , _wakizashi_ , and _tachi_ too.” He nodded.

“Me too, but it doesn’t matter what I’m interested in at the end of the day, it’s about the members.” He gestured toward them all. A couple of them waved and one of them bowed. Budo chuckled at the bowing member. “Apprentice,” he whispered toward Ayano. He cleared his throat before he spoke up again, “So, considering joining now?”

“Do you mind if I just sit in and watch practice today?”

“Sure, I don’t mind, but I can’t sign you up as an official member until you participate.”

“Got you.”

“And four-thousand yen for a _gi_.”

She laughed. “Good price.” He smiled back before he took his position in front of the club. He called for everyone to gather up. He yelled out commands and the students yelled back. Ayano kept her ears perked, trying to listen and pick out every voice that yelled back. None of them matched Info-8. Maybe it was because they were yelling and not just speaking normally. Ayano never heard Info-8 yell before. She leaned against the wall and continued to watch. Looks like she was spending some more time with the Martial Arts Club than she originally thought.

❀

Ayano volunteered to go out to the incinerator at the end of practice. One of the apprentices gladly tossed a trash bag her way and thanked her. They didn’t match Info-8’s voice. She could scratch Juku Ren off the list. He seemed pretty weak anyway. Even Ayano noticed how he sometimes fumbled with some commands. Oh well, he was an apprentice for a reason.

Budo stopped her at the door. “Where are you going?” She held up the bag of trash. It was pretty self-explanatory. “Oh.” He let go of her arm and took a step back. “Hurry back. I’d like to talk to you.” She nodded. She felt his eyes on her back as she left.

Some of the delinquents came back early Monday morning, as Info-chan had predicted, and stood post at their usual spot by the incinerator throughout the day. Ayano had yet to see their leader, the target, though. Maybe her suspension was longer than the others. Ayano hadn’t bothered to ask too much about her.

Ayano saw now that only three of them, one female and two males, were there. They all raised an eyebrow as she approached them. Usually a student had to wait hours after cleanup time for them to leave in order to use the incinerator and attempting to use it while they were still there resulted in bad news, but they weren’t budging for Ayano. She walked to the machine, tossed the trash in, and turned it on. She hadn’t used it since the Drama Club murders.

“Hey, Aishi,” the girl called out, “come here.” She obeyed. They all looked her over. The girl had short hair with copper streaks on the left and right sides. She wore a surgeon’s mask (did she break into the hospital too, maybe?) that read “fuck” in bright and bold characters. Ayano eyed the _bokken_ – wooden sword – at the girl’s side. The boys had weapons too. One had a _shinai_ – a bamboo weapon – and the other had a crowbar. The boy with the crowbar looked familiar.

“Yes?” Ayano asked.

“You’re kinda cool,” the girl said. She shrugged and swung her weapon over her shoulders, letting her arms hang off of it casually. Perhaps Ayano was looking in the wrong place with the Martial Arts Club and Info-8 was actually a delinquent, or at least associated with them. They seemed to have more of a variety and access to weapons than the club did. “Boss Murasa didn’t like any of the bitches there anyway, so she was kinda happy to find out what happened, with the Photo Club digging up dirt and exposing them and shit.”

“Oh…” They were all staring bullets at her. She wasn’t sure how to respond. “That’s… good, I guess?”

“What I’m saying is that we know that you somehow had to have a hand in this. I mean, the club was getting away with shit and then all of a sudden when you join the head bitch dies and the rest of the mutts experience simultaneous social suicide?” She hollered out a laugh. “Not you though. All that was said about you was maybe you were involved with the bullying, but we knew you weren’t. I heard you were the first one to find Kaiyo’s body or something?”

“No, it was another girl. I was the one who called the police though.”

“Oh.” She clicked her tongue and swung her weapon back down on the ground so she could lean on it. “Must suck, huh? I bet one of those bitches did it. Wotoru down at the Photo Club wrote this huge, elaborate theory thing about it and everybody turned against him for ‘lying,’ but the Boss believed it.” She shrugged. “Do you think so too?” How was Ayano supposed to answer that?

“Maybe. Who knows?”

“Yeah,” the girl sighed, “who knows, right?” She ran her hand through her hair. “They call me Copper, by the way.” She pointed to the boys. They all nodded towards Ayano. “That’s Dandy and that’s Sumito—nickname pending.” Oh, that’s who that was. It had been exactly one month and one day since Shiba Sweetie’s murder. All Ayano really knew about Shiba Sumito was that he was about fifteen – a year younger than her, he was Sweetie’s younger brother, he had ADHD, and he had played the flute when they were in Light Music Club together. He looked like he had a few growth spurts since she last saw him and his hair was gelled up in the same dramatic style like the other delinquent males’. He must have dyed it jet black too, since she knew that he and Sweetie had light, brownish hair.

Sumito gestured his crowbar towards her. “Hey, Yan-chan,” he greeted. His voice was quiet. Ayano remembered how loud and carefree he was during practices, always yelling across the room to his friends and whispering things when the teacher’s back was turned. He had even broken his flute once and risked getting kicked out the club, but he had been passionate about playing from what Ayano recalled and even paid to replace it out of his own pocket.

“Hey, Sumito.” Copper looked back and forth between them.

“You know her?” She asked.

“We were in Music together,” Ayano supplied. Copper huffed.

“Whatever. Anyway, Boss wanted to talk to you. Meet back here tomorrow and she’ll show. Hope you don’t have any other prior engagements or anything.”

Ayano shook her head. “I don’t.”

“Good. See you then. And, uh, bring cigarettes.” Copper winked. “Boss likes those.”

“What brand though?”

Copper raised an eyebrow, like she wasn’t expecting the question. “Uh, she likes Sakura best, but they only sell those in Kagoshima and Miyazaki only, so, unless you’re planning some type of overnight trip, you aren’t getting those. Get Caster—Caster Super Mild—from the supermarket or the pharmacy then. Pull through.”

Ayano nodded. She didn’t feel their eyes on her back as she walked away. She found herself walking slowly to the Martial Arts Club. She was torn between the club and the delinquents, but then again, Info-8 could be some kid that went to another school. Yande could find next to no traces of Info-7 at all, receiving absolutely no calls from the person, while Ayano had both seen and heard Info-8 on multiple occasions and was still stumped. Maybe she should have stayed and hid while they cleaned up the pool. But Info-chan probably would have known that she was spying on them and the consequences would have been bad if Info-8 really did know what to do with a sword.

Budo was standing center in the room, arms crossed. A few lingering members were still cleaning up here and there while Budo stood watch. He smiled when Ayano entered the room. She had lingered by the door for a while, watching him, and he hadn’t been smiling then, but he wasn’t scowling like she swore he did before their first meeting.

He scratched the back of his head as he walked toward her. “Um, might sound a little strange, but they’re playing _The Big Boss_ tonight and I thought you’d like to come since you are a fellow Bruce Lee fan too maybe.” She forced her smile to stay up. Any boy who wasn’t Senpai that had a crush on her was just an insect that needed to be swatted. And Yande was probably going to have some dramatic reaction if he learned that Ayano had gone out with somebody he didn’t approve of (and the only people that he approved of that Ayano knew were himself and Senpai, so the list wasn’t too long in the first place). “It’ll be me, Ren, and Mina, so it won’t be just me and you alone, don’t worry!”

“I wasn’t worried. How long is the movie?”

“Almost two hours. And I’m taking everybody out for dinner too, so we’ll be gone for a while.”

 _Insect._ “I’d love to go.” _Swat._ “Thank you.”

“No problem!” He touched her arm again before he went to go change. Another touchy-feely type to deal with. Wonderful.

❀

They ate noodles in a karaoke hall and thank goodness they weren’t actually participating in karaoke, because there was only so much Ayano was willing to do to seem like a normal schoolgirl. Riding her bike around town and wasting money on manga with senseless storylines was enough, but singing along to stupid, forgettable songs? A line had to be drawn somewhere.

Ayano was poking at the seaweed on top of her ramen when she was poked on the elbow. She looked up at Budo. He pointed at another table. “There’s Taro.” He waved. “Hey, Taro! Come here?” Senpai was here? _Now?_ While Ayano was sitting so close to another boy? _No, no, no, no, no—_

“Hey, Masuta.” _He spoke_. “What’re you up to?” _His voice_. Ayano couldn’t breathe.

“Taking a few of the club members to see a movie. Oh, and I’m taking not-really-but-might-become-one-in-the-future member Aishi Ayano.” He threw his arm over her shoulders. No, no, no. Ayano was going to break his arm.

“Hi, Aishi-san.” Senpai smiled at her. She couldn’t speak. This wasn’t happening. She melted like ice-cream, no, like _hot candle wax_ whenever she caught him smiling at someone else. Now his smile was for her and only her. She didn’t know what to do.

“H-Hi,” she squeaked out. She didn’t know that she even still had the capability to speak. Being around Senpai put a worse spell on her than the sight of gore did. She could feel her cheeks heating up. It was amazing how she let one boy manage to have so much power over her. Everything was for _him_. She was killing for _him_. She was out to see some movie she didn’t care about with a boy that she cared about even less all for _him_.

“I’ll see you around,” Senpai said. He waved before returning back to his table. Ayano watched him walk back to his table. It looked like he was there with his little sister and father. Ayano knew that Senpai’s mother was away in Tokyo on business and his father liked to take them out for dinner while she gone.

Budo whistled and waved his hand in front of her face. “Hello? Earth to Yan-chan.” She blinked. She could feel his uninvited arm around her again. He leaned closer to her ear. “You’re doing some pretty hard staring over there.”

“Sorry.” She forced herself to turn away. “I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s cool. Taro is better to look at than me, I’ll admit.” He gave a good-hearted laugh and rubbed her shoulder. “Might want to hurry up and eat your food before it gets cold or I start eating it.” She nodded and swirled and twined some noodles around her chopsticks. She found herself pausing before she brought the noodles to her mouth. She hadn’t eaten noodles like this since she stuffed them down her throat until she vomited after she killed Sweetie.

She couldn’t help but feel nauseous after she forced herself to swallow down the rest of the bowl’s contents.

❀

Budo took it upon himself to walk Ayano home despite her insistence that she was fine by herself. He was laughing and spoke loudly about his appreciation for Bruce Lee and other forms of martial arts while she commented here and there to seem “interested.” The only good thing that happened tonight was that Senpai smiled at her for the first time. It was a milestone, a historic event even.

“Well,” he stopped in front of her house, “here we are.”

“Here we are.” She nodded. “Thank you for tonight. I had a good time.”

“Me too. Don’t be a stranger, okay?” She smiled and nodded. She started to unlock the door, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back slightly.

“Oh, and you’ll need these.” He took something from his jacket pocket, took her hand, and forced her to take whatever he had. “Have a good night, Yan-chan.” He waved behind his back as he walked away, whistling some song from the movie into the night.

She looked down at her hand. It was a packet that was light pink. “Sakura” was written in English on the front. She opened it up. There were cigarettes inside.

“Whoa!” Yande actually jumped out of his seat from the couch. “Don’t go opening the door like that, Yan. I thought you were one of the doctors coming after me. I was so close to getting caught when they asked me to hand them an ophthalmoscope or something and I had no clue what they were talking about.” Yande turned down the television and stood up. He was still wearing scrubs and had blood splattered over the front. “Yan, what’s wrong?” She hadn’t closed the door or taken off her shoes yet.

“Masuta Budo took me out to dinner and movie,” was all she said. He frowned deeply, before he stopped. Twin telepathy was a thing between them, thank goodness.

“How was it?” He asked. He took off his bloodstained outfit and began to walk away. She followed after. He leaned in closer to her once they were inside the laundry room. “No cameras in here,” he whispered. “And I tried to take down the camera in your room, but it was back the next day.” He turned on the washing machine. The loud rumbling of the machine would hopefully drown out their conversation.

“One of the delinquents told me to get Murasa Akabara a packet of Sakura cigarettes and then he gave me this before he left.” She held up the packet for Yande to see.

“Shit,” he whispered. “If for some reason we get in a situation where we have to confess, nobody is going to believe that it’s him. He rescues cats from trees and stops muggers from stealing girls’ purses, for fucks’ sake.” He let out a long breath through his nose before he cocked his head toward the door. Ayano tucked the cigarettes back into her skirt pocket.

He tried to wrap his arm over her shoulders and she shook him off like she wanted to do with Budo all night. She took out her phone.

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ tue. – 17.feb.98 / 00:39 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan8** : Hello! Beat you to it._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Keiji “Copper” Kupa is my cousin, but you don’t need to go easy on her. Yamaguchi “Dandy” isn’t the strongest guy around._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : give me back my underwear_  
>  _**info_chan8** : No, I think I’ll keep them. They smell pretty nice._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : i hate you_  
>  _**info_chan8** : I love you, too. Have a good night, Yan-chan._

She slammed her phone shut. Yande rubbed his hand along the small of her back. “I guess I still have my own mystery to solve, but it looks like one of them wanted us to know who they are while the other doesn’t.” Ayano held her phone to her chest.

“Senpai smiled at me today.”

“What? Really? That’s great, Yan-Yan.” He kissed her cheek. “It felt amazing, didn’t it?”

“It did.”

“I’m sure it did. You deserve all of his smiles and laughs and anything else good he can give you.” He kissed her forehead. “Sweet dreams.”

“Sleep with me tonight.”

“What?” She bit her lip.

“Sleep with me tonight,” she repeated. “After you bathe,” she added.

“Will do.” He rushed to the bathroom.

❀

Was Ayano supposed to get on her hands and knees and grovel on the grass and then lay her offering to the great and powerful Boss Murasa Akabara and beg for acceptance? She thought so, but handing the cigarettes to Copper so that she could pass them to the boss – who had her back turned the moment Ayano walked up to them – was enough.

Ayano didn’t need to see her face to know that she was taken aback when she looked at the cigarettes. “Sakura?” She said. Her voice was… _soft_. She turned around then. She had a torn male uniform jacket draped over her shoulders like a cape, bandages twined up her arms like some kind of makeshift handwraps, a pair of rolled up pants underneath her uniform skirt, and her hair was dyed blonde and was an unruly mess. Ayano was incredibly inadequate in comparison with her brother’s sweater and a pair of long socks. It was typical cool February weather and it had rained that morning. She had only dressed appropriately.

“I heard they were your favorite.”

“They are.” Murasa had an adhesive bandage across her nose, but the long scar underneath still peeked out of it. She towered over Ayano, and Ayano considered herself to be at a decent height. Ayano could see the girl’s arms when she held out her hand to Copper for a lighter and went into the process of lighting one of the pink cigarettes. “Thanks, kid.”

“Kid?” Ayano probably shouldn’t have said that. The delinquents were a delicate situation. It took too much to even get a second glance from them and staying with them proved to be some difficulty too from what Ayano knew. Copper’s head swung around to face her and Murasa raised an eyebrow, momentarily taking the smoke from her mouth, before she snorted.

“Yeah, ‘kid.’ What are you, sixteen, seventeen? I’m eighteen.” She reached down and ruffled Ayano’s hair to make her point. “So I can call you ‘kid’ as much as I want, kid. Got that?” Ayano nodded. “Sucks that the rest of the gang’s not here. A lot of ‘em got transferred to Kumamoto. Lame, right?”

“Right.” Ayano nodded.

“It’s a shame. Triangle woulda liked a nice, pretty face like yours, wouldn’t he, Copper?” Copper immediately nodded.

“He likes them pretty, Boss.”

“He does.” Murasa wasn’t carrying a weapon that Ayano could see, but just the sight of her arms was enough. She looked like she could take on Budo or a journeymen from the Martial Arts Club and it would be a close fight. Ayano threw the thought of Budo and the club out of her mind as quickly as they came. Murasa blew a puff of smoke in her face. Ayano didn’t even flinch. Murasa smirked. “Move out. We’re going to Sumito’s.”

“B-But Boss, I said Wednesday’s only. That’s when my grandmother is out doing errands.”

“Oh yeah? Well lately Tuesday’s when all the old folks gather at the Koyama’s to play mahjong and eat soup and clean their dentures and rub ointment on themselves and do whatever the fuck else old people do.” She got up in his face, nose-to-nose. “Move. Out.” Sumito didn’t speak out again.

❀

There was an urn in the living room. It was painted a pale shade of pastel green and Sweetie’s real name was painted across the front neatly in white. Ayano knew that it was empty. She didn’t even know where Sweetie was. Were her severed parts decomposing somewhere in a wayward landfill or had she been processed and burned with some pile of rubbish?

“Bathroom?” Ayano asked Sumito. Dapper and Copper were on the couch, drinking, while Murasa stood on top of the coffee table, telling some story that Ayano had stopped listening to after a few seconds.

“Down the hall, to the left. Can you go into my room and bring out more drinks on your way back, too? Thanks.”

She followed his directions. There were three toothbrushes resting on the bathroom sink. Ayano found her finger tracing along the edge of the clearly lone brush. She stopped herself and took a long swing from her bottle before she pulled out her phone.

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ tue. – 17.feb.98 / 19:52 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**yandere_chan** : i dont want to be here_  
>  _**info_chan8** : Wow, you’re not usually one to message first._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Survive the night, sweetie. It’ll all be over soon._

Ayano picked up the drinks and returned to the living room. Dandy snatched two from her hands and immediately started guzzling them down, while Copper, Sumito, and Murasa politely took their own.

“Hey,” Murasa ruffled her hair again before Ayano could sit down, “I saw you before. Let me think…” She tapped her chin. “I got a great memory, don’t remind me... Uh, the first of April, ’96. It was at the playground. I remember because you were crying and shit and I thought it was weird because I had never seen you or your brother even smile before then.” Ayano froze. Murasa took another swing of her drink like it was nothing. “What was up with that?”

“It was my fourteenth birthday.” She cooked up a quick lie: “I didn’t get the present I wanted so I went to the park to cry about it.” Ayano shrugged. “It was stupid.” She tapped her fingers against the glass of her drink. She swore that nobody else was at park that day.

“I used to be in Art Club back in junior high,” Murasa said suddenly. “I got kicked out for some bullshit. So I came to the park that day to take my mind off it, but then I saw you crying on the swings, so I left to give you some privacy.” Murasa smirked toward Dandy. “See, I can be nice.”

“Sure,” he muttered. He had already finished off his first bottle, but he didn’t even look the slightest big intoxicated yet. Somebody knew how to hold their liquor. Ayano’s phone buzzed. She glanced down at it quickly and made sure it angle it so that Copper couldn’t read it.

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ tue. – 17.feb.98 / 19:56 ♡  
>  _> group chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan8** : Change of plans._  
>  _**info_chan6** : A package has been delivered through Shiba Sumito’s bedroom window. Retrieve it. We will be waiting outside._

Ayano stood up again. “Sorry,” she murmured as she moved past Murasa.

“Damn, the facet’s leaky tonight, huh?” Murasa laughed. “Blame it on the booze. But like I was saying…” Her voice faded into the background as Ayano made her way to the bedroom.

Ayano shouldn’t have turned on the lights. Missing posters of Sweetie covered every single inch of the walls, top to bottom. She hurried to the window. A shoebox was resting there. Inside were her mother’s knife and a collection of smaller knives featuring various cartoon characters on the handles.

“Hey, Yan-Yan.” Ayano looked up. Yande, dressed in all black, was standing outside the window. “Aren’t they nice? I thought they were up your alley.”

“Thank you.” She closed the box and handed it back to him. “What’s going on?”

“Info-chan doesn’t want them expelled anymore. She wants them dead. So she called me up and 8—or should I say Masuta—is waiting outside in the car. We’re ready when you are.”

“What am I doing?”

“Taking the party over to your place.” He winked and took the shoebox. “’Call’ me and I’ll come in the car for you. We’re parked just down the street.”

She had to ask, “Whose car is it?”

“Masuta’s,” he groaned. He disappeared into the night then.

“Hey,” Ayano called out when she returned. She got the room’s attention. She made sure to wobble and slur her words a bit. “More,” she hiccupped, “M-More drinks at my place. Wanna go?”

“What?” Sumito stood up. “But I just brought drinks.”

“I got better ones.” Ayano smiled.

“Isn’t your house kinda far?” Copper asked.

“I can just…” Ayano made a display of struggling to get her phone out. “I can just call my brother. He’ll pick us up, no big deal.”

“Holy shit, he has a car?” Murasa asked. “Call him. I got mine taken away and I hate going to places on foot. I mean, I got the body of a god, but I’ve been walking everywhere during my suspension and I’m sick of it.”

Ayano punched in the number. “Hey, Yan-kun? I’m at Shiba’s, could you pick us up really quick?” She winked toward everybody else and gave a thumbs-up.

“Coming now. Tonight’s going to be fun. And don’t hog everybody this time either.”

“Thanks, bro.” She smiled as she closed her phone. “He’s coming up now.”

“I bet Aishi can throw a better shindig than you ever could, Sumito,” Murasa said. She jumped off the table. Dandy and Copper gathered up as many bottles as they could and followed their leader outside. Sumito stopped in front of Ayano before she could leave. He only had to give her one look and his eyes said all. They held that same warmth that Sweetie’s had.

_“Don’t get attached, stay detached.”_

She patted his shoulder as she made her way to the door too. “Let’s go, Sumi.”

“I hate them,” he whispered. She stopped.

“Huh?”

“I hate them,” he said again, slightly louder. The sound of the car pulling up covered his voice. “I just… I felt like they were the only ones who understood me, you know, after everything that happened with Sweetie and my _baa-baa_ doesn’t understand. The teachers don’t. The guidance counselor doesn’t. The therapist doesn’t. Nobody fucking does. But they did. They knew what I needed. That I was angry.” He clenched his fists. The horn was honking outside. “I’m just so fucking angry. And tired. I’m so tired.”

She touched his shoulder again. “You won’t have to feel tired anymore tonight, okay?”

He sniffled. “What do you mean?”

“Get in the car and you’ll see. Come on.”

Murasa had taken the front seat next to her brother, so Ayano was forced to squeeze in the back. She was nearly in Dandy’s lap much to her displeasure (but probably not his, judging from the way that she could smell his rotten, alcohol-ridden breath every time he laughed and stroked up her shin).

“I see you have new friends, Yan-chan,” Yande said. Ayano opened her mouth to say something, but Murasa beat her to the punch.

“After hearing about her and the Swim Club, I couldn’t resist myself. Consider her an honorary member. I actually got some respect for the kid.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Are you questioning me?” They went on arguing, but Ayano knew it was lighthearted. The clock on the radio read that it was seven at night now. Still a little early, but who cared. A free week had left Ayano itching for more, especially after only having Oka has leftovers and coming home to see Yande satisfied and covered in blood.

Dandy’s hand was exploring up her thigh now. He managed to sneak a touch between her legs before she pressed her knees together and tried to scoot closer to Copper and away from him. “What? No panties?” He chuckled – a classic drunkard laugh. “Naughty, naughty, naughty.” Looks like the drinks were finally kicking in.

“Piss off,” she hissed. He either didn’t hear her or didn’t care, because he was reaching behind her to mess with Copper’s hair now. The girl wasn’t wearing her mask now. Ayano recalled seeing her face around school. She didn’t wear pants underneath her uniform like Murasa, but she had shortened the skirt like most of the other delinquent girls had. She also pinned the copper streaks of her hair back during class time. Ayano guessed that she wasn’t a fan of getting pink slips like Osana and probably Murasa were.

Her backside was slapped once she stepped out of the car. She snapped her head around to face Dandy, no, _Yamaguchi_. He didn’t know what she was capable of. None of them did. She just turned around and walked to her house. Patience was a virtue, but she would be glad to eviscerate someone on the sidewalk if it were socially acceptable.

“Where’s the booze?” Murasa slammed the door behind her. “Mama wants to get nice tonight.”

“Basement,” Ayano said. Everyone was having an idle conversation as they followed behind her. “I’ll get cups,” she said before she closed the door. She went to the front door. He was already there, wearing the mask and black clothing that he had worn during their first first meeting.

“Hi, Yan-chan.” His voice was low again. Which voice was the façade, she wondered. He waved his blade. “Basement?” She moved out of the way so he could enter the house. “Nice place. You’ve been keeping tidy.”

“Shut up and go to basement.”

“Oh? You really are fearless, huh? Badmouthing someone who is specially trained in various martial arts and carrying multiple blades on their person.” He touched a gloved finger underneath her chin. “This is why you’re my favorite.” She held her breath until she heard the basement door shut behind him. She locked it. The boys could start the show, but she was going to finish it for sure.

The shoebox was next to the door. She opened it. The knives were nice, yes, but her mind still lingered on the beautiful _tantou_ blade that Masuta had offered her, how it still managed to shine and glisten underneath the dim light coming from the computer screen. Her mother’s knife and these new smaller ones would do though. It was the kind of knife that the blade could be pushed and concealed inside of the handle. Perfect for carrying in the pocket.

Ayano stood in front of the door for a moment. If there was any screaming going on, she couldn’t hear it. Bless the soundproof basement. It was a godsend, honestly. She made her way down.

Sosuke and Oka’s bodies and the blood on the floor hadn’t been cleaned up (Yande had insisted that the bodies and blood stay so that they can scare any potential future visitors to the basement and Ayano had spent the free week lighting candles and burning incense every night and morning, just in case the smell managed to creep out). They rested side by side in the front of the room, as if they were on display. Their gorged-out eyes rested in each of their laps, respectful of the owner.

They must have moved a small table and more chairs down into the basement while Ayano was gone. She could see that the delinquents’ legs were tied to the chairs and legs of the table and their wrists had been tied together while their arms had been massively taped down to the table, palms down so that their fingers were exposed and ripe for the taking. Murasa sat at the head of the table and it felt like an understatement to say she was mad. She was a roaring lioness – _infuriated_. That soft voice that Ayano had originally heard was nowhere to be found.

“I WILL BREAK OUT OF THESE TIES, AND WHEN I DO YOU’RE ALL FUCKING DEAD, YOU HEAR ME?” She shook the table and banged against him. “DEAD, DEAD, DEAD—ALL OF YOU ARE _DEAD_.”

Copper kept glancing at the sitting stiffs during Murasa’s rant. “S-Stop saying ‘dead,’ Boss, I’m gonna puk—” Her cheeks swelled up and Ayano could see that the girl was trying to hold her bile back. Vomit would be an unfortunate mess, but oh well. It wasn’t like she and Yande hadn’t cleaned up the waste that a dead body naturally eliminates multiple times before.

Ayano put the box in the center of the table. It wasn’t like their captives were going to be able to reach the knives inside if they tried.

“Do you like knife throwing, Yan-chan?” Budo asked her. He placed his blades at his sides and picked some of the small knives from the box. He weighed the knives in his hands as he took a several steps back from the table. “A little weightier than throwing knives, but they should do. Watch and learn.” He got into position. Ayano and Yande simultaneously stepped back also. “ _Shurikenjutsu_ , don’t fail me now,” he said before he threw the first knife.

Bull’s-eye. It hit Copper square in the forehead. Her scream was cut short when he threw another at her at her chest – around where her heart should have been, another in her left eye, one in the right, and then a final one was lodged in her neck. She collapsed against the table in a bloodied heap. Yamaguchi let out a girlish scream when her blood began to pool underneath his immobilized hands. Ayano walked behind him, followed by Yande. “It isn’t nice to be touched by something you don’t like, huh?” He said for her. Ayano could roll her eyes at that. Everyone’s a hypocrite.

Yamaguchi turned into a crying, whimpering mess at the blink of an eye. Poor boy was still hopelessly drunk. All the bloodshed wasn’t enough to sober him up. Yande took out their mother’s knife and positioned above the boy’s hands. His pathetic sobbing grew even louder. “I guess you don’t need these anymore, since you won’t be touching my sister or anyone else again.” He raised his arm and brought the knife down. Murasa stopped yelling then.

Yande went on to the next finger, then the next one, then the next one, until all ten were severed and lined up in a neat row in front of their disjoined joints. His blood blended with Copper’s. Budo had returned to the table and was ripping out the knives from Copper’s body. Yamaguchi didn’t know where to look: at his Boss and fellow delinquent who were just as helpless as he was, the girl he thought had aligned with him that was reveling in the chaos with an unmoving gaze, the masked stranger that was now plucking knives from his friend like it was nothing, or the boy who had just cut his fingers off with the swiftness of a chef cutting meat.

“Finish him,” Yande said. He passed the knife over to Ayano and in the blink of an eye she ran it over Yamaguchi’s throat. He didn’t have to focus on anything now but the back of his eyelids. She knocked his head over so it could lie against the table also.

“Two down, two to go,” Budo said. “Who wants Murasa?”

“I do,” Ayano immediately said. She couldn’t kill Sumito.

She turned her back to Budo and her brother as they got started on the boy. She didn’t even want to know what they were going to do with him. Sumito didn’t deserve this. He was with the wrong crowd at the wrong place at the wrong time. If life was a game of mahjong and people were just tiles on the board, Ayano would move Sumito’s piece as far away as she could. Somewhere where he could enjoy time with his _baa-baa_ and where he wouldn’t have to put missing posters of his sister everywhere because he would know exactly where she was. Somewhere where he could be as angry and emotional as he wanted and people would understand him. Somewhere where he could joke around when he wanted and play the flute when he wanted. Somewhere where fate wouldn’t fuck him over – _he was screaming in agony and calling out Ayano’s name now_ – and where he could be loved instead.

Murasa brought Ayano back to reality with a spit to the face. “Fuck you,” the girl barked out. Ayano only wiped the spit with the back of her sweater sleeve. This wasn’t going to be too hard. Her mother’s knife had passed down the table toward her. Murasa’s eyes focused on it as Ayano picked it up. “Can you at least give me the mercy of telling me why the hell you’re doing this?”

“Love.” Ayano dragged the twice bloodied over blade underneath the girl’s nose, so she could smell the demise of her friends.

“Love? What the hell are you on about?” She still struggled against her constraints. Ayano should have stayed to see what it took to get the girl tied down to the table. It probably took the both of the boys. The locked door and blades probably helped a lot too.

“Yamada-senpai, you like him.” Murasa let out a laugh. It was loud and bitter and rung in Ayano’s ears. She started to trail the knife down and trace along the girl’s collarbones. She had a nice bone structure. Maybe in another life without bandages and liquor she could have become a model for other artists’ work.

“Oh, this is about that fresh piece of meat? I wanted to take his virginity the moment I laid eyes on that pretty boy.” She laughed again. “So this is about jealousy, huh? Just wait until he finds out. Wait until he finds out what this ‘perfect little angel girl’ did in order to get to him. He’ll leave you in a heartbeat. He’ll hate you for the rest of his ever loving days. You’re the exact opposite of the kind of girl he lik—”

Ayano plunged the knife into the girl’s neck, right through her throat, effectively shutting her up. Murasa cackled up more blood between her teeth and it dribbled down her chin. Ayano turned the handle of the knife into a slow, but complete circle. The girl continued choke on laughter until she gagged on one final shaky breath and collapsed against the table like the others. Ayano pulled out the knife and let the blood pour for good measure.

“Good job, team,” Budo said. He headed up the stairs. “Goodnight. Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.” With a final wave, he left. Ayano slammed the knife against the table. Her hand came up sticky with blood.

“Are you feeling okay?” Ayano shrugged. She honestly didn’t know anymore. “I’ll get the mop, you get the cleaner.” They both made their way upstairs. “Info-7 said they’re coming tonight to clean up. They said it’s a ‘gift’ for us being able to switch gears on such a short notice. We just have to leave out the cleaning supplies and the door unlocked, and they promised the cleanest basement ever.”

“How nice.”

“That’s what I said.”

❀

Ayano couldn’t feel Yande’s warmth next to her anymore. She tightened her eyes and tried to reach out, but she couldn’t move her arms. She opened her eyes and wakefulness flooded her mind in an instant.

It was pitch black, but she knew she was in the basement just from the overpowering scent of cleaning chemicals and scented candles. Her legs were tied and her hands were strapped against the table too. She tried to move, but she was virtually paralyzed for the time being.

“I didn’t want to wake you. Did you know that you smile in your sleep? Not a lot, but it definitely counts as a grin in my book.” She held her head down. “Oh, don’t look so sad. I’m just here to present another deal to you.” She didn’t answer. She heard footsteps approach her in the darkness. She wished that her eyes could adjust sooner. She wondered if the bastard’s mask was off and if he still had his blades.

Something was placed in front of her. She could just barely touch it with her fingertips. It was her mother’s knife. The handle was still warm.

“Now, finger amputations can be very complicated to repair because fingers themselves are very intricate.” The footsteps moved behind her. They grew distant before they returned. “Each finger has many, many structures, including, but not limited to: bones, three main tendons, two arteries, two main nerves, multiple veins, soft tissue, skin, and nails just to name a few.” His breath was going down her the back of her neck. “Imagine cutting a straw in half and then having to put it back together. Instead of just, say, simply sewing it together like you would for a tear in the shirt or socks, you have to sew circumferentially and make sure that the cut ends of the straw are connected and that fluid can move through it freely.” He chuckled and touched her shoulder for a split second before he walked away. “Too bad you’re not going to get yours reattached if this leads to that, hm?”

“What do you want?”

“I want you, Yan-chan, or at least a piece of you would suffice too.” He stepped closer. “I didn’t know that you’re the type to play games either.”

“I love playing games until my heart… bleeds.”

He scoffed. “I figured. After twelve hours it’s difficult to restore blood flow to an amputated finger. Nine tomorrow is your cutoff.”

“You’re funny,” she deadpanned.

“Hilarious.” His voice was dry. “So, tell me this secret or we can head out to the car. Your choice.”

“Why do you want to know this secret so badly?”

“Same reason why you wanted us to take care of Sumito. Still waters run deep.” She still couldn’t see him. Was her heartbeat actually beginning to accelerate? He didn’t deserve her anxiety, her nervousness. He didn’t deserve anything from her. “Humor me.” His voice was lower and there was some undertone that she didn’t recognize to it.

“Kaiyo Puru…” She closed her eyes. Yes, the girl was her victim, and yes, she was apologizing in her mind. “Kaiyo Puru had a penis.”

A beat. “What?”

She decided to elaborate: “She did not have the genitalia that one would assume she would have in accordance to the outer appearance of her gender.”

“Don’t get smart with me.” Tape was ripped away from her right hand. Pain immediately rose from having it rip away from her skin, but she bit her lip and toughed through it. _Real_ pain was coming soon. “I can do this for you if you want.” She took the knife. She had half the mind to plunge it through his body, but she wasn’t sure what was really hidden in the darkness.

“No, it’s fine.”

“You shouldn’t have made that stupid promise.”

“You shouldn’t have grown such an unhealthy obsession over me.”

“You’re one to talk about having unhealthy obsessions, Ayano.” She positioned the knife over her left pinky, as promised, and sucked in a quick deep breath. She closed her eyes even though she couldn’t see anyway. “Wait,” Budo said. He lifted her hand and laid something underneath. It felt like some kind of piece of cloth. “I wanted to do this yakuza-style. The delinquents inspired me.” She let out an uneasy breath.

_In._

_Out._

_In._

_Out._

_In._

_Out._

_In._

_Out._

Off.

Ayano didn’t scream. One thing she didn’t deserve was to scream, was to waddle in the throes of self-induced agony. She felt liquid rush over her laceration and it become wrapped up in the piece of cloth that had lain under it.

“You’re a strong girl.” She wanted to vomit, but she wanted to look at it at the same time. Maybe it was best that she couldn’t see. “The fingers have many small nerves, making injuries excruciatingly painful. And you don’t even make a sound.” Her chest felt like it was closing in on her. She had wrapped her free hand around her finger so tightly, she was sure it was going to be impossible to let go. The pain was indescribable. This was how her victims felt. They felt this over and over and over again until they couldn’t feel it anymore. “Move your hand so I can put some ice on it.” She didn’t know if she let go or if he pried her hand off of her finger (most likely the latter), but she soon felt a welcoming sense of coolness rush over and numb her senses somewhat.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Her voice was quieter than usual, but she made sure to rid any evidence of pain from it. He didn’t deserve the pleasure. No. Not at all.

 _Insect._ “No, thank _you_.” Swatted.


	8. Kiss It Better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5%

_What if… we…. were… normal?_

Yande held his sister’s head against his chest once she came back to him. Even though he was wearing a pair of large, thick glasses and a surgical mask as a disguise, showing up at Buraza General was still too risky. He rocked the both of them back and forth, back and forth. Together. No words. Pure silence. Inhale. Exhale. But Yande still couldn’t help but wonder.

_What if… we… were normal?_

They both knew early into their childhoods that something was wrong. Matter of fact, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think that everything was wrong. They could never make friends with the other children. They would never question why their father never said “I love you” to their mother like all the other kids’ mommies and daddies did. They would never cry whenever they fell off their bikes and came up with bloody knees and bruised elbows. They never found any fault in the old photographs of their Grand _Sobo_ wielding a large knife and their Grand _Sofu_ never smiling.

_What if we were… normal?_

If they were the usual, typical adolescent siblings then they wouldn’t sleep together every night. They wouldn’t be killing for a boy who barely acknowledged their existences. They wouldn’t be in the position they were in right now – Yande cradling his sister in his arms, wordlessly, staring ahead into the dark space of her room. If they were normal, then she would have been crying in pain, crying for the loss of her finger. She would be grieving. She would be mourning. If they were normal they wouldn’t be sitting in the dark contemplating their next kill, simply coexisting while three people – two of which they didn’t even know – continued to manipulate and control them from behind the scenes.

“Ooh,” their mother had cooed on the phone that morning. “Well, I guess you can stay in during the morning so we can get all the medical stuff in order, but I’ll be calling in to make sure that you go back to school in the afternoon. And make sure you both go to cram school this evening, okay?”

“Yes, mother.”

“Yan-kun, looks like you’ll be cooking from now on. And please don’t use my knife again. You know how dangerous it is! It was specifically crafted—an Aishi family heirloom—handed down from generation to generation since the Edo period. That blade is four times sharper than a regular, old kitchen knife! Oh, I should’ve taken it with me or locked it up so you couldn’t have gotten hurt.”

“It’s okay,” Yande had said, “it was an honest accident.”

“And the finger couldn’t be reattached? I’m confused. You went to the hospital right after, right?”

“I couldn’t find the rest of the finger,” Ayano picked up. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. Like Yan-kun said, it was an honest accident.” There was some mumbling on the other end. “I’m sorry, I have to go now. Be good! Oh, and I might be extending my ‘vacation.’ Looks like me, Grand _Sobo_ , Great _Baa-baa_ , and my mother are going to America. Would you two like anything while I’m there?”

“No,” they both said.

“I might send you something anyway. I think an apology gift is in order, Yan-chan.”

Yande forced out a chuckle. He felt Ayano move slightly in response to the noise. “Imagine all of our grandmothers and mother marching through America, hunting down our father.” She didn’t say anything. “I keep thinking about going over to his house and cutting off all of his fingers like I did with Yamaguchi last night.”

“Don’t.”

“I know, but still. Why did you make that promise, Yan?”

“If I didn’t then Kaiyo wouldn’t have trusted me enough to be alone with her.”

He took her hand again. There was a bandage, a split, and a cast – the whole deal. Her hand went limp in his clutch after he pressed her knuckles against his lips. “I can make us even. You don’t have to be going through this alone.”

“Don’t.”

“Just a thought.”

“It’s fine.”

“I got a message this morning. The schedule’s being switched again. We aren’t kidnapping the substitute nurse. We can only use nonlethal methods of elimination on her. And Senpai’s little sister and the Student Council president are being moved to this week, same deadline. You know, you can take a break. Just hang around the nurse’s office and you might get some sympathy points added to your reputation because of it, and I’ll take care of damage control with the Photo Club and handle the sister and we can both take on the best for last. Does that sound good?”

“Yes.”

He kissed her knuckles again. “Are we really going to cram school?”

“I don’t need to go. I’m not sure about you.”

“I’m glad to see that your sense of humor is still intact.”

“What’s your English grade?”

“Something decent.” He leaned back some so that she was no longer lying against his chest. “Kiss?” Usual, typical adolescent siblings didn’t sneak kisses to one another throughout elementary and junior high after seeing their mother threaten their father’s life when he tried to leave her. The thought of normalcy repeated in Yande’s mind, a mantra, as Ayano actually sat up and kissed him proper. Could he taste desperation between her lips or was it on the tip of his own tongue?

_Will we ever be normal?_

After they pulled apart and she settled back against his chest, he found himself asking, “What are you planning to do?”

“I don’t know.” He rested his chin against the top of her head. Bless his sister and her brutal, shameless honesty.

❀

Ayano wanted to do more than break Budo’s arm now. She wanted to twist and yank out his teeth one-by-one to permanently erase that stupid grin he always had when he watched over his club members. She wanted to rip his arms from the sockets so he could never confidently cross them again. The way that he frowned and had the audacity to look concerned when she walked into the club room only produced more vile thoughts and scenarios.

She held up her hand, the one with the cast, to cut the formalities. “I’m joining your new program, Budo-kun.”

“New program?” He raised one of his thick eyebrows up at her. “Keep up the good work, guys!” He yelled. The members yelled something back in response, but Ayano tuned them out. “Um, what were you saying again? I have a new program?”

“You do. After Marital Arts Club ends, you teach me using actual swords.” She shoved the papers in his hands. “Just you and me. Alone. One on one.” She watched his eyes skim over the documents. Oh, his eyes were the ones that deserved to be gouged, not Sosuke and Oka’s. He held up the money clipped to the papers. “Four thousand yen,” she supplied. “I need a new _gi_.”

“Technically you don’t need one, but it can be arranged. I already know your measurements.” He folded the money over and forced it back into her hand. “I’m looking forward to you calling me ‘sensei.’”

❀

Yande faded in and out between the Photography Club’s conversation and observing the Yamada siblings. Yamada Imouto was a social parasite. No questions about it. She was latched onto her brother’s arm like a leech and wouldn’t budge. When he moved, she moved. When he went up to throw something away, she followed him to the trash can and back.

They were normal. No doubts about it. Senpai had a warm expression on his face whenever he spoke to his sister, friendlier than the usual look he gave people. Imouto looked like she dominated the conversation most definitely and he nodded along here and there, looking more preoccupied with his lunch at times, but the adoration in his eyes was undeniable. Yande wondered if he got the same look in his eye whenever he looked at Ayano and if, somewhere deep down in her mind, the feeling was mutual.

“Hey, Yan-kun,” one of the girls said. He turned to her, snapped out of his reverie. “You know who you look like?”

“My father?”

“No, you kinda look like Yamada-senpai, like,” she framed her fingers together to form a square as if she was taking a picture of his face with her hands, “the facial features, the hair.”

“No,” the other girl said, “Yan-kun’s face is sharper and his eyes are darker.”

“You know what,” Yande forced out a chuckle, “this is the second time I’ve gotten told that I look like Yamada Taro.” He glanced over at the boy again. His sister was feeding him something out of her lunch.

The girls giggled and continued to talk. They were all sitting so close together and the roof was completely crowded. The wisdom of the crowd decided that those who lingered out in the halls during lunchtime were automatically suspicious. Yande could definitely see the herd mentality forming as everybody was huddled together in tight circles. The high-strung atmosphere and tense murmurs that had replaced the usually loud, cheery hubbub could not go unnoticed.

Everyone seemed to flinch when the school bell tolled, signaling the end of lunch. Everyone still walked hip-to-hip back to their classrooms. Goodbyes seemed to last longer before the doors shut. Yande gazed after Imouto as she walked down to the first-year hall when the Photography Club cemented their agreement to perhaps stay in school a little later to do some very necessary late-night research and writing.

One of the members said, “Tell your sister I hope she gets better,” before they all went their separate ways.

Spending lunches apart from Ayano felt strange to Yande. She had to take station in the infirmary though, she deserved a break. He remembered the last time he tried to give her a break, offering to take down the Drama Club for her, but she had ended up stealing the show. Something told him that she wasn’t going to swoop in and take down Imouto though and he doubted that she was going to go against orders and do any harm to the nurse.

Actually, Ayano had to force thoughts of the nurse on the forefront of her mind. For once, she wasn’t thinking about the nurse and rivals and murder. Her mind was empty, clear. There was something therapeutic about the infirmary. It felt a little wrong to not share such a peaceful moment without Yande. The infirmary was untouched by collective anxiety of the school. All Ayano had to do was take her pain medication, get her bandages checked, eat her lunch, and catch up on her morning lessons.

“Oh, Aishi-chan,” the nurse called out. Her voice was too high-pitched and her mannerisms were over exaggeratedly bubbly. No wonder she was keeping the nurse off of her mind.

“Yes?”

“I have a note for you.” She smiled. “One of the students wanted to wish you well.” Ayano nodded and took the note. It was written on a torn piece of notebook paper, nothing too special. As Ayano unfolded it, she could feel the woman lingering, watching over her shoulder.

“Um, Oroka-sensei…” The nurse blushed and hurriedly excused herself. Ayano rolled her eyes. The ditzy woman wasn’t important enough to be on her mind anyway. She would never capture Senpai’s heart.

The note was written in small, neat handwriting – one Ayano didn’t recognize – and it the message was pretty simple:

> _Hi! I hope you’re having a nice day. Sorry that you’re in the infirmary and I hope you get better soon._

Ayano wrote down a simple response saying she was fine and hoped that they were having a pleasant day too. If she had half a mind she would be confused, but she didn’t care. Stranger things have happened. She folded the note back in half and put it in the nurse’s desk.

“Aw, you replied!” She squealed. “So cute!” The nurse tucked the note back into her desk.

“Who was it from?”

“Not telling! My lips are sealed.” How annoying.

❀

Ayano tied her hair up into a high ponytail. Yande wasn’t there to complain about it. A sword was immediately tossed her way when she stepped out of the changing booth. She frowned when she fumbled to catch and grasp it, but she didn’t let it drop. The damn split was getting in her way.

Budo ran his hands through his hair as he stepped into the light. “You know, the little finger’s grip is the tightest on the hilt.” He demonstrated by showing his still-intact pinky finger’s grasp on his own weapon. He brought his sword down and took a step closer towards her. “Swordsmen with their little fingers amputated couldn’t grip their swords properly, so they were weaker in battle and had to depend on their bosses for protection.”

She shrugged and stepped on the mat also. “Good to know.”

He clicked his tongue and tapped her knee with the side of his sword. “Fix your stance. It’s weak. All I need is the perfect opportunity and—” With one swing, she was flat on her back suddenly. “—I got you.” She jumped right back up to her feet and got into stance properly. He raised an eyebrow, but was quick to mirror her pose. “I nearly forgot about your endless amount of stamina.” He began to circle her. Her senses were on high alert. “Pop quiz: do you know why Yamada is a ‘super senior’?”

“What does that mean?” The hairs of her neck were standing on end. The swords they used were real and sharp, as per Ayano’s request. Though bamboo and wooden weapons could be just as deadly, she wanted something as sharp as her mother’s knife, something that weighed in the palm of her hand. She balanced the weapon in her hand, trying her best to grip the cast of her finger around it.

“You know, why is he repeating the twelfth grade? Do you know what’s going on?” He stopped behind her.

“He has medical issues.”

“What exactly?”

“Why are you questioning me?”

“Because you only speak when spoken to, so I figured that this question-response system I developed would be a good solution. So tell me, what does he have?”

Ayano stood stock still. “MS.”

“Correct.” She felt his body move. She immediately turned around and blocked his swing. He held his sword against hers, but didn’t move, didn’t try to knock it out of her hands. “Hm, your grip is pretty decent, along with your Yamada knowledge.”

She leaned closer to him. She caught her reflection in the glimmer of the metal of their swords. “I have Masuta knowledge too.” He leaned in too, grinning.

“Oh?”

“First off,” she swept her leg underneath his feet, knocking him over, “you’re not Japanese.” She caught his sword with her impaired hand and wielded both blades in front of him. “You moved from Hong Kong to Buraza Town in 1982.” She plunged the swords into the mat, just a hair away from his face. “Your parents own the House of Blue Leaves in Kumamoto City and you’re the next in line to be the head instructor.”

“Correct.” She still wanted to knock the teeth out of his stupid grin. He stood up again, slowly, carefully, not as quickly as she had sprang back to her feet, and looked at her. “Anything else?” She wielded both of the blades in front of him.

“No.”

“Ambidextrous?” She shrugged. “You can keep the blades, you know. And the skirt and the gloves and your underwear too. You did your end of the deal. And you actually managed to catch me at a blind moment.” He gave her a thumbs-up. “Good job.” He whistled as he turned his back to her and started rummaging through his things. “Do you want the scabbards too?” She nodded. Everything he promised was tossed at her feet. Geez, he really did have a habit for throwing things.

She pushed the things to the side and handed the sword back to Budo.

“Again?” She nodded. “Let’s go then.”

❀

The medication was taking longer than usual to numb the pain. Ayano was stuck looking out the infirmary windows and thought back to her late sparring match. The sound of the nurse giddily trying to calm down two sobbing girls filled the room, taking away from the peaceful atmosphere. Ayano was tempted to draw the curtain to shut them out, but that would be “rude.”

She could just see the cherry blossom tree that Osana used to wait under for Senpai. In fact, Senpai had left the spot the moment that Ayano had went into the infirmary, waiting for his sister. Ayano spotted Yande, surrounded by the Photography Club, following after. She swore that her brother looked up at the window and winked before he went out of sight.

“Oh, Aishi-chan!” The girls were still there, but not crying as loudly as before. One of them was still sniffling and the other had out a handheld mirror and was hurriedly trying to reapply her dripping makeup.

“Yes, Oroka-sensei?”

“Another note!” She pushed between the girls, making one of them smudge her eyeliner and start to cry again, and handed the note over. “It must be really nice to get all of this sympathy from your peers. Especially during such a tough time like this.” The nurse pouted and returned back to the other two girls. Ayano figured that the pressure was getting to them. She could hear the students whisper in class about how much they wanted to leave, how much they wanted the school to get shut down, how much they wanted their friends back.

> _I hope I’m not too forward saying this, but I have no one else to express my thoughts to. It’s getting pretty scary around here, don’t you think? I would stop going to school if I could, but my parents won’t let me. I’m just scared that the next victim is going to be me, or worse, somebody close._

Why was this stranger expressing their thoughts to Ayano? And why was she writing back?

> _Yes, it is pretty scary, but the third trimester is over in one month – exactly twenty-eight days – and then spring break will come along with a new school year. I’m sure that the killer or killers or kidnapper or kidnappers, whoever they are, will be caught and this nightmare will all be over by then. Just hang in there._

She moved to place her response note on the nurse’s desk. The other two girls’ phones buzzed, along with Ayano’s. She sighed as she walked back to the cot and flipped it open. If it was Budo, she swore—

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ tue. – 24.feb.98 / 12:25 ♡  
>  _> group chat connected!_
> 
> _**chanelvintage** : ATTENTION USELESS WHORE(S) – Congratulations! If you’re reading this it means that a) you can read, something that I have been questioning lately, and b) and your tiny, stupid, manatee-sized peewee brains actually functioned long enough to comprehend this entire message!_  
>  _**chanelvintage** : So, if you’re asking yourself, “Uhhh, well I’m confused?!?! Is Akumu Shaneru actually taking the precious time out of her day and penciled me into her very, very important agenda to message little old ME?? Am I a useless whore like she said?” – simply ask yourself the following question, then, aloud because I know it would be difficult to actually use your mind for critical thinking: “Is my name Gurin Midori, Ronshaku Musume, Miyu Saki, or Mio Mei?” Because if the answer is “yes” then, once again, CONGRATULATIONS, this message is for you!_  
>  _**chanelvintage** : So, do you all remember when I told you last night – at 21:6 to be exact?_  
>  _**ronshakuuu** : yes, shaneru._  
>  _**meimei_lovesu** : Yes, Shaneru._  
>  _**i_miss_u_kokona** : Yes, shaneru_  
>  _**midoriwiththegreenhair** : wait, i don’t. what is this about??_  
>  _**chanelvintage** : YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS ABOUT. THIS IS ABOUT THE FUCKING KILLER AND HOW I AWOKE TO SEE NOBODY BY MY SIDE AFTER OUR VERY LONG DISCUSSION ABOUT SAID POTENTIAL KILLER. WHO DOES THIS KILLER TARGET? YOUNG, HOT GIRLS LIKE ME AND YOU ALL (although, I seriously question some of your individual hotness at times – such as right now) AND YOU ALL LEFT ME STRANDED!_  
>  _**ronshakuuu** : sorry, shaneru, but my daddy wants me home at 23:00._  
>  _**meimei_lovesu** : Yeah, some of us have curfews, Shaneru._  
>  _**midoriwiththegreenhair** : i seriously dont remember this convo omgomg_  
>  _**chanelvintage** : Ugh, enough with the excuses. I don’t care. You trollops are the worst specimens of human beings ever born and you should all really watch your backs, because if this serial killer or killers – who the fuck knows – targeting the school doesn’t chop off your heads, I’M GOING TO DO IT and then I’ll sell your tiny, useless brains to science so they can conduct proper experiments on how the hell you all got so stupid. You got that?_  
>  _**chanelvintage** : Okay, rant over. Love you guys! See you in town tonight! I’m craving soup, I think._  
>  _**midoriwiththegreenhair** : wait, i got a question_  
>  _**chanelvintage** : Ugh. You always do. Make it quick._  
>  _**midoriwiththegreenhair** : whos @yandere_chan? is she a new friend??_  
>  _**chanelvintage** : Omg, I had someone automatically connect me with everybody in the infirmary and in the Sewing Club because that’s where the majority of you all are right now. It didn’t cross my mind that said person would connect this message to strangers. How inadequate._  
>  _**chanelvintage** : Okay, random bystander that had to endure this message: Hi! And I’m sending my sincerest apologies. If you give me your name and homeroom number I will personally deliver an apology gift myself._  
>  _**yandere_chan** : no thats okay_  
>  _**chanelvintage** : No, no, I insist!_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : okay then, if you insist_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : aishi ayano, class 2-1_  
>  _**chanelvintage** : Oh, you’re the girl with that hot twin brother and was in the Cooking Club where those chicks died and then the Swim Club where that other chick died, right?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : yup thats me_  
>  _**chanelvintage** : And you’re currently in the infirmary right now because you cut off your finger or something by accident like over the weekend or something, right?_  
>  _**yandere_chan** : yeah_  
>  _**chanelvintage** : Oh, I am so sorry that you had to witness the pitiful sniffling that Ronshaku and Mio are probably doing right now. Ladies say hi to her!_  
>  _**ronshakuuu** : hi, yan-chan!!_  
>  _**meimei_lovesu** : Hi, Aishi-chan._  
>  _**chanelvintage** : In real life, ignoramuses!_

Ayano looked up from her cellphone and at the other two girls. They waved to her. Ayano developed a new theory on why they were crying.

> _**chanelvintage** : Anyways, have a nice day, Aishi-chan! Hope you get well soon, bye!_

And that was Ayano’s first encounter with the School Council president. One to remember.

❀

“That girl is never alone,” Yande muttered to himself. Even when Senpai was away, she was surrounded by her first-year friends. And honestly if Yande stared any longer he was going to look creepier than usual. He clicked his tongue and turned around. It looked like a home invasion was in order.

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ tue. – 24.feb.98 / 12:25 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**yandere_kun** : it looks like a home invasion is in order_  
>  _**info_chan7** : my thoughts exactly!_  
>  _**info_chan7** : see, we should get points for creativity. info-8 and yan-chan just go in and go out, but we set up a hospital break-in, i mean, i had you sneak in as a nurse for fucks sake! and then i had you kill 5+ people on your first solo mission! i’m doing pretty well, if i do say so myself._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : yeah, yeah u can revel in your glory later. just give me the details on the yamada house_  
>  _**info_chan7** : you’re in luck because senpai’s mother is away in tokyo on business and tonight his father is taking him out to buraza general for a doctor’s appointment from 17:30 – 19:00 and then they’re coming home at approximately 19:20ish (depending on traffic, but you know we don’t get much in town, even when everybody’s coming home from work and school). so you got about one hour and thirty minutes to get in and get out and take what you need._  
>  _**info_chan7** : i’ll drop off the music trunk at 17:35 behind the house and you do what you do best._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : thank you. what would I do without you_  
>  _**info_chan7** : hey, i’m just grateful we don’t have a relationship like the other two. :) she was over late swordfighting with him. weird, right? they’re acting like the fingergate never happened._  
>  _**yandere_kun** : yes, it is a little weird_  
>  _**info_chan7** : just a lil bit._

❀

Was the whole break into a girl’s home and shoving her inside of a giant cello case gag becoming old? Yande smirked as he secured the ties on the girl and shut the trunk on her. Nope, it wasn’t and it probably never would.

“Yan-Yan,” Yande called out. He rolled the case in the middle of the living room. “I went to Yamada’s house and got some presents for you!” He unhooked the latch and popped open the lid of the case. Ayano walked into the living room then. She was wearing her pajamas and had a box decorated with a huge bow and wrapping paper and everything shebang in her hands. Yande lifted Imouto from the case and sat her up on the sofa. The girl was whimpering and whining. Her eyes were red rimmed and her cheeks were stained with tears. “I gagged her,” Yande said with a smile. “You know, the younger the girl, the louder the scream and I figured we don’t need headaches today.”

Ayano and Yande sat side-by-side with Imouto to the far side of the couch. Yande turned on the television. “Any requests, Yamada-chan?” He asked. He flipped through the channels. “News? No, they’re probably talking about those missing Akademi High students. How boring.” He changed the channel. “Ooh, _Magical Girl Miyuki_ is on. This looks like a new episode too. Do you like this, Yan-chan? The kids at school are always talking about it.”

“I have all the manga.”

“Oh, you’re a fan?”

“I hate manga.” She settled more into the couch. “And the show changed the original storyline. There’s plot holes.” Yande laughed and patted her bare knee. He could feel Imouto whimper next to him. He patted the girl’s knee too.

“First off, here’s the stuff I got.” Yande pulled the trunk over and named off the items as he placed them on the coffee table. “A pair of boxers, a Band-Aid, some chewed up gum, a chewed up pencil, some hair from his brush, a button, an apple core, a toothbrush, and an old bento box.” Yande proudly smirked to himself as Ayano began to shiver and run her fingers over the items he dug up. Who knows, maybe she could build a shrine with all the stuff he found. “So, the box.” Yande pointed to the present in Ayano’s hand. The wrapping paper was pink and the bow was pinker. “What’s the story behind this?”

“Akumu Shaneru, the Student Council present, accidentally sent me a message, so she gave me this gift at the end of the day.” Ayano handed Yande the present to open. He tore the paper apart and tossed it aside. It was a box of rice cakes – the good, expensive kind that came in different colors and filled with red bean paste. “I refused, so she offered me an invitation to the tea party she’s throwing on Thursday in the Student Council room. She said I didn’t have to get her anything, so I bought some green tea ice-cream to bring.”

Yande shoved one of the cakes in his mouth. “Planning on killing her at said tea party?”

“Possibly.”

“That would be so cool.” He ate another one. “Would be genius if you locked the doors and picked them off one by one like I did with the Occult Club.” Ayano nodded. It would. Yande looked over her as he licked the paste from his fingers. “How’s your finger?”

“Gone.”

Yande glanced over at Imouto. Her eyes were glued to the television. Her body was shaking and she was downright sobbing. Yande leaned over to her and dried her eyes with the back of his hand. She squealed beneath her gag, screwed her eyes shut, and tried to back away from him, but there was no more space left on the couch.

“What should we do with her? I think we did just about everything now: dismemberment, disembowelment. We’ve ripped out eyes, teeth, and tongues. We’ve even done decapitation once.” He outstretched his hand and Ayano gave him another cake. “I remember Info-chan saying that we fake a suicide, but I think we have the freedom to do whatever we like now.” Imouto was struggling against her constraints now. It only made her fall off of the couch and nearly hit her head against the table.

Yande ate his cake as he watched Ayano stand up and set the girl back down on the couch. “I have something in mind.”

“Hm?” Yande swallowed down his mouthful of sweets. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“Not when she’s listening.” Ayano left momentarily and then returned with a pair of scissors and a chair.

“Move her downstairs?” Ayano nodded. Yande scooped the girl up in his arms and Ayano carried the chair down. She then cut the bottom of the girl’s skirt and tied the trimmed cloth around the girl’s eyes. Yande reached out to help her again once Ayano began to rearrange the constraints so that the girl was tied to the chair.

Ayano went to the corner of the basement and Yande couldn’t help but smirk when his sister produced an actual sword. She made a display of removing it from its casing and Imouto’s screamed – muffled by the gag, thank goodness – and strained against the chair. Ayano dragged the sword against the floor, letting the blade loudly scrape against the ground. The girl was trembling at this point.

Ayano slowly raised the blade off of the ground, dragged it against the chair legs, and then quickly removed it. Imouto flinched and Ayano could hear her hold her breath. She took a couple of steps back before slicing the girl’s shirt open, right across the chest. She pressed the tip of the blade right above the girl’s heart. Tears were rushing down Imouto’s face and she was shaking her head back and forth frantically, still trying to break away from the chair.

Ayano moved the blade back. Imouto stopped struggling, but her body continued to shake. Soon her crying and gasping became the only sounds to fill the room. Ayano then took several quick, loud steps forward and swung the sword forward, impaling the back of chair, just past the girl’s ear.

Yande moved behind Ayano. “Look,” he whispered. He took her by the chin and tilted her head down. Imouto had peed herself. It trickled down the girl’s leg and dripped onto the floor. The girl cowered and knocked her knees together. Yande pressed himself against his sister’s back. “Kiss.”

“Did this excite you?”

“What do you think it is: the unexpected _omorashi_ or your cleverness?”

“The latter.”

“You’re not wrong.”

❀

Ayano watched Senpai sit alone underneath the cherry blossom tree from the infirmary window. She forced her eyes away when the nurse handed her a note. Ayano wasn’t sure if the nurse made another absentminded comment. It was easy to tune the woman out. The only thing that mattered about her was to make sure she didn’t get too close to Senpai.

> _I’ve always preferred nature over people. And, yeah, I’ll be really looking forward to March not only because school is ending but because the cherry blossom trees will be in full blossom. I can’t wait to finally walk out of here and have the cherry blossoms falling all over me. It would be really beautiful, I think. It’s just things have been so troubling lately. I really hate this school._

What was Ayano supposed to say to that? Was this person looking for solace, some type of comfort? She wasn’t the one.

> _Are you in the Gardening Club? If not, it could be a really relaxing activity and could help to distract your mind. It’ll all be over soon, I promise._

Ayano’s phone rang as she handed her note to the nurse. “Hello?”

“Yan-chan, hi! It’s Akumu Shaneru, but you already knew that. Are you going to show to the party? I got to reserve your seat.” There were reserved seats for a tea party being held in the Student Council room? Ayano really was out of the loop. “It’s a special occasion, we only have it once a year before spring break, and only ten people are invited. I had to butt out what’s-her-face to get you a seat, but honestly, between you and me, I’ve been wanting to get her out for a while now.”

“Wow, I feel really special. Yes, of course I’ll be there.”

“Okay, dress nicely. Because if you wear something bad then I’ll get a bad case of secondhand embarrassment for you and we really don’t need that. I mean, I’m already cringing every time I walk into the school and I actually think kind of highly of you since you handled yourself better in, like, two sentences over text than all of my underlings have for the entire year.”

“Um… thank you, Akumu.”

“Oh, please. It’s Shaneru.” She laughed. It was an airy, light sound. “Okay, bye-bye!” The girl hung up before Ayano could say goodbye.

Ayano focused outside of the window again. Senpai was gone.

❀

Wakimoto the Leader waved everybody to her computer. “We got a response!” The club members immediately gathered around her. Yande rolled his chair over to the side.

“Is it a response from Akumu or the headmaster?” Masahiko the Loudmouth asked.

Mari with the Pigtails sighed and rolled her eyes. “Who do you think replies faster, Akumu Shaneru—the most popular and socially powerful girl in all of the school—or the headmaster—the man who we have confirmed only three percent of the student population seeing in person?” She hit him on the back of the head. “Use your head sometimes!”

“Guys, guys,” Spiky Haired Wotoru interrupted, “the message.” The two immediately stopped fighting and returned their attention back to the screen. Yande swore that they had the minds of five year olds at times.

The Leader (damn it, Yande forgot her name again) cleared her throat and read aloud: “’I am well aware that the message that I have sent to my girl Fridays yesterday afternoon was somehow leaked into the gluttonous, vapid, un-moisturized hands of the Photography Club and has a low probability of being published in that half-baked thing you call a school paper and a high probability of being publicized on your official forum on BubblegumChum. You have reached out for a response and here it is—’”

“’Girl Fridays’?” The Loudmouth (ugh, Yande was doing so well at first) interrupted. “What does that even mean? Does she, like, carry an encyclopedia and a thesaurus around twenty-four seven? I mean, this is so uppity, I can’t.”

“This is the top of the third-year class we’re talking about,” Pigtails said, “she’s pretty and smart. Did you even read the message? I attached a copy of it in the e-mail I sent you this morning.”

“Found it!” Spiky Haired pointed to his phone screen. “A ‘man Friday’ is a male helper or follower. It originated from the 1719 novel _Robinson Crusoe_ by Daniel Defoe because there was a character that was a servant named Friday.”

“Fine then. I guess she knows her stuff,” Loudmouth said. “Sorry for the interruption Wakimoto.”

Wakimoto the Leader crossed her arms before continuing, “You have reached out for a response and here it is you lummoxes in the amateur journalism world! You and your relentless, unwashed readers that continue to take every opportunity possible to mock and attack me mercilessly from the safety of your stained futons and twenty percent off polyester shirts can all suck it!’”

“Well…” Spiky Hair laughed. “At least this one wasn’t just a ‘fuck the Photo Club, you’re all worthless pieces of shit and I’ll get you shut down’ like last time.” The club collectively laughed and returned to their stations. Yande still stayed by Wakimoto’s desk though. He spun around in his chair as he gathered his thoughts.

“So… does this happen very often with Akumu?”

“Not a message this long and detailed, this was new. Maybe she’s bored or freaked out or something right now.” Wakimoto shrugged. “Who knows? And even though she made this whole ‘response,’ she’s going to be livid if she finds this on the forum.” She crackled her knuckles and got to typing. “This is so going on the forum now.”

Yande watched her type for a moment. “Would you say that you got just about everybody in this school figured out?” Wakimoto shrugged.

“I only have so many eyes to send out.” She gestured around the room. Everybody was furiously working except for Shimu (Yande certainly remembered his name, the guy who wouldn’t stop staring), who was staring out the window. Yande only ever saw the guy staring at him or looking out the window, so he didn’t understand how he ended up being the most diligent of the club and never missed a deadline yet. He also seemed to be the most proficient in interviewing, usually coming back with pages filled with useful information, but Yande still had yet to hear him utter a single word.

He once saw the guy slip on a manila folder and land face first on the floor and he didn’t even look the slightest bit pained.

“Yeah?” Yande beckoned for her to continue.

“I don’t know. I guess I’m okay at observing people and stuff and figuring stuff out and who’s who, but… I don’t know _everything_.” She stopped typing for a moment. “You know what’s really frustrating actually?”

“What?”

“I don’t know you, Aishi. I can’t crack your code. You or your sister’s.” She laughed. “I like to think of you two like a fine game of chess because I don’t know how to play chess. It’s just something I don’t understand whenever I look at it. And when I try to learn, it just gets harder and I always end up giving up in the end.”

“What are you talking about? There’s nothing to learn about me, Wakimoto.”

“Oh, but I think there is.” She flashed him a quick smile. He returned back to his desk.

❀

“Hello, Ayano!”

“Masuta, get out of my basement.”

“What? No thanks. 7 and I were keeping her company all day. Look.” Ayano quickly walked down the basement with Yande in step.

There was another person in the basement, wearing the same costume and mask that Budo had worn during his and Ayano’s first meeting. They waved. Yande waved back.

“Her hair,” Ayano stated. The girl’s dark hair, the same shade as Senpai’s, was white. It wasn’t completely white, but the roots and many strands of it were, making her originally dark hair appear gray.

“They call it Marie Antoinette syndrome. When Marie Antoinette was captured they say that her hair suddenly turned white,” Budo supplied. “This can be triggered by intense bouts of sorrow, fear, rage, and stress.”

“What did you two do?” Yande asked. Ayano could only wonder what the two of them did to the girl to make her hair whiten overnight. She couldn’t detect any extreme physical harm on the her, just a few bruises here and there and her clothes weren’t any more torn.

“No sleep,” Budo answered. “So far, about twenty-six hours without any food, water, or sleep and we kept her on edge of death the entire time. You’re welcome. And we added an extra feature.” He stepped aside to present Imouto properly. She was wearing a proper blindfold now and a large pair of headphones covered her ears. “We swapped places, taking four hour shifts for thirteen hours of pure torture. We shared the thirteenth hour, because some of us are picky with our math. And then she received the remaining thirteen hours in solitary confident and with a continuous steam of the finest auditory torture.” He gestured to the headphones. “She cannot see or hear us.”

Yande took purposefully loud steps towards the girl and waved his hands over her face. She didn’t react. “Wow, great job you guys.” He moved back to Ayano’s side and put his hands on his hips. “What’s the catch?”

Budo shrugged. “We’ll see. Let’s see, somebody did more math, so I’ll just give it to you: twenty-six hours out of forty of torture have been implemented, so that would mean… the process is sixty-five percent completed?” He glanced over at Info-7. They nodded. “And then we have a two point five percent decrease in sanity per hour. After twenty-six hours we have a sixty-five percent decrease in sanity, meaning we have a thirty-five percentage of sanity to go—fourteen more hours to go. Is that right?” Info-7 nodded again. “Good. So, after all of these exciting calculations, she will be ready tomorrow at ten o’clock on the dot.”

“Ready?” Yande looked back and forth between the two of them. “Ready for what?”

Budo crossed his arms and grinned. “Just give me a name. Who’s been bothersome lately? She’ll get rid of them for us.”

Yande thought back. Imouto had been bothersome, but here she was right now, trapped in the infamous Aishi basement, hypothetically wrapped up in a frilly, pink bow. Akumu Shaneru had decided to be problematic for the week, but it wasn’t her time to shine just yet. They had promised nonlethal methods on the nurse, so she was out of the question, and Ayano had been doing a good job camped out in the infirmary, making sure that nothing occurred between her and Senpai if she could help it.

“I can’t think of…” An idea popped into Yande’s mind. Ayano looked up at him, probably wondering why he had trailed off mid-sentence. “Wakimoto or Shimu. You can flip a coin on that.”

Budo and Info-7 simultaneously nodded. They both made their way back up the stairs. “We’ll be back to take care of her in the morning. You two have fun tonight,” Budo said.

“Where are you two going?” Yande asked.

“Cram school. Then home to pass out in exhaustion.”

❀

The girl smelled like the worst combination possible of piss and fear and had stopped shivering, stopped struggling, stopped doing much of anything come morning. Ayano let a yawn escape as she looked over the girl. The process wasn’t exactly finished yet according to Info-7’s calculations. They needed four more hours. But Ayano could basically see the results now.

Budo or 7 must have removed the gag from her mouth and Ayano and Yande had been tempted to put it back in all night. She would murmur things like: “No… not again…” And Ayano would shut her up with a quick cut across the skin. “Just… just kill me, please, just kill me.” And Yande would shut her up by turning up the noise in her headphones louder. She even whispered, “I hate you,” before Ayano smacked her awake.

“I…” Ayano raised an eyebrow. She still wanted to talk after a night they had? “Let me go… please…” Her voice was raspy and hoarse. The girl couldn’t even pick her head up anymore and her hands hung loose, no longer grasping tightly on the arms of the chairs. She didn’t even hold her knees together in shame anymore. “Please… please, just let me go.”

She looked like she was about to go to sleep again. Ayano shook her shoulders. Imouto’s head shot up only momentarily before it hung down again.

Ayano felt kisses be pressed against her neck. Looked like someone else was awake. “Do you want a quick nap while I run your bath?”

“I’m fine.”

Yande looked over his sister’s shoulder at their captive. “How is she?”

“Broken.”

“Perfect.”

❀

When Aishi Ayano’s hair was unnecessarily and flamboyantly styled and she was widely smiling as she pulled up the straps of her new, shimmery dress (courtesy of Info-chan!), then something was seriously wrong. It was basic knowledge.

Shaneru was dressed to the nines also. She hugged Ayano. “Hi! I’m so happy you came, honestly.”

“I’m happy to be here.” Ayano presented the ice-cream. “I brought you something.”

“Oh, you did? You really didn’t have to. I told you not to!” She took it. They weren’t strangers to how this worked: offer a gift, refuse it then take it, give a gift back, refuse it then take it – the endless cycle. “Come on in. Find your nameplate.”

Ayano had never been in the Student Council room before. There was a long row of tables in the center of the room. A huge quadruple blackboard was set up on the far side of the room, practically taking over the entire wall. Ayano glanced over the board and saw a discussion over how much the student moral dropped since the disappearances and there were lots of thoughts written about the headmaster’s decision not to shut down the school or use security cameras. There was a separate board dedicated to Shaneru’s schedule throughout the week. It looked pretty hectic. Ayano imagined that the girl lived a busy life before but now it looked like there was something to be done during every second of the day. Giving a quick glance to Tuesday’s schedule, Ayano spied: _“12:25 – send disciples a curt message via BubblegumChum (remember to be derogatory).”_

Ayano’s seat was by the window, overlooking the front of the school and the cherry trees. She thought back to the past note she had received from her anonymous infirmary companion. The student body had used their collective subconscious to decide to eat lunch by the fountain instead of on the roof that day. Ayano couldn’t spot Senpai anywhere though.

Back on the thought of cherry blossoms, Ayano unfolded the note that she had clenched in her hand. She only paid the infirmary a short visit to have her finger checked and take her medication. The substitute nurse had expressed how sad she was to leave, how much Ayano was growing on her (Ayano swore that their conversations were as one-sided as one-sided conversations could be), and how she was going to miss this little budding friendship through note passing. Ayano had politely thanked the nurse for her service, closed the curtain, and changed into her dress.

> _He, she, they – whoever this monster is – they took my best friend and now they took my sister. Do you remember Najimi Osana? She was the first one to go missing back in January. I kept waiting for her by our special tree, the first tree on the left by the front school entrance, but my sister told me to stop because she knew that I was just hurting myself. Now she’s gone. Osana’s gone and now my sister’s gone. And I know she’s gone for good._ _My father won’t stop crying and my mother canceled our spring vacation. I have MS, multiple sclerosis, and it was relapsing this week. That’s why I kept visiting the infirmary, in case you were wondering. So my mother had planned out this whole trip for us to take and it didn’t matter what the results on my exit exams were or if I got better, worse, or neither. She wanted me and the rest of the family to just take a little break from all this madness. But now we can’t. Whoever that psychopath is, they took her. They took my sister. And I know she’s not coming back. I accidentally said that out loud to my father and he snapped at me not to say that ever again and not to think it either. He kept crying and crying and yelling that Imouto has to come back. She has to. But for once I can’t stay optimistic. If Osana never came back, if none of the others came back, then why would Imouto?_ _I miss her so much. I’m sorry that I’m sending such a long and heavyhearted note to you. My father is a mess. My mother won’t speak. She won’t even leave Imouto’s room. None of my friends would understand. I’m starting to question them anyway. I don’t even know who you are and you’ve become the only person that I can feel like I can trust and confide in. Crazy right? Nothing makes sense anymore. Nothing._ _Thank you for listening to me. You don’t need to reply to this. Just the thought that you took the time out of your day to read this and all my other notes and continue to be concerned about me even though we’re complete strangers is enough._ _Thank you again._

Ayano broke into a cold sweat.

Shaneru cleared her throat and stood up at the head of the table. Ayano’s hands shook as she tore the note into two, three, four pieces underneath the table and then balled it up. Those who were not seated took their seats.

“Hello! And welcome to the Annual Student Council Tea Party!” Everyone clapped and cheered. Ayano wasn’t sure if it was appropriate for her to join in on the whooping and the hollering. It sounded strained and forced. “Now, I have invited a special guest, Aishi Ayano, with us today.” She gestured toward Ayano and she received a short round of applause. “I invited her as an apology because I accidentally made her endure my wrath a few days ago. The other girl whose name doesn’t matter and never shows up for meetings lost her invite and will not be missed. But anyways…” Shaneru went off on a speech. She lost the snobbish tone in her voice and it was instead replaced with a professional, serious one.

She spoke about school politics and the headmaster’s controversial decisions. It turned into an active debate. Everyone was completely engrossed with their president, forgetting their food and teacups. All except one. He was someone that Ayano didn’t recognize. He looked older, probably around Shaneru’s age. His hands were crossed on the table and he was looking down, not participating in the conversation. She spotted the way that his ears turned red and he threw his fist on the table, knocking his plate and cup onto the ground.

Shaneru stopped speaking. Ayano was expecting a wordy insult or a heated outburst to come from the girl any minute, but there was only silence. The other members spoke up:

“Hayato, what the hell?”

“Shaneru was talking! How rude!”

“What’s wrong with you? Do you want to get kicked out?”

“No.” Shaneru sat down in her seat, silencing everybody. “Hayato obviously has something on his mind. What is it, Hayato? Is there something wrong? Do you not agree with the topic we’re discussing? Speak.”

Hayato jaw clenched. “I love all of you. I really do. I consider you guys to be my closest friends in this entire damned school. You’re the only people I can trust.” He sighed. “But what are we supposed to do? Nobody listens to us. It’s out of ours hands now. I mean, at any moment somebody else is becoming a victim and we can’t do anything about it.”

Shaneru slowly stood up. She shook her head before she opened her mouth. A scream came out.

No. She didn’t scream. It came from outside.

Everyone raced to the windows. Someone opened them and everybody grabbed onto the sill and had their bodies practically halfway out. Ayano could make out the crown of whitening hair and the torn clothes and dried bloody welts across the arms.

Imouto’s head hung down. She had been like that since Ayano had last seen her. Imouto had been quiet for the rest of the morning despite her brief outburst before Ayano went to take a bath. When Ayano and Yande had handed the girl off to Budo and Info-7, she had only whispered, “I should die…” And Ayano thought nothing of it.

The students’ faces were twisted in horror at the sudden return of Imouto. They all were circling around her, but no one approached her. She sported a knife in her right hand. Her head picked up for only a brief moment and Ayano could see how drained and emptied the girl’s eyes were. Her mouth was moving, but Ayano couldn’t hear what the girl was saying over all of the screams and shouts.

Imouto went Yande’s way. He was surrounded by the members of the Photography Club. Yande’s face was contorted in a façade of fear and shock, but Ayano knew what was really running through his mind.

Imouto took one of the girls standing by Yande’s side – a girl with short hair and whose eyes were wide in terror – and grabbed her by the neck. She threw the girl on the ground, raised the knife high in the air, and struck down again and again and again and again right through the girl’s throat.

Ayano leaned down closer. She could see blood pooling underneath the victim and her neck was a horrible, glorious mess of human matter. It looked like the head was just about ready to separate from the body when Imouto raised her knife up even higher, way above her head, and brought her entire body weight into one final strike.

Everyone grew deafly silent. Imouto was lying still over the girl’s body, still holding onto the knife. She picked her head up again just to pull the knife out of the remnants of the girl’s neck, before she held up the blade again. She stared at it. Ayano held her breath. She knew that Yande was too.

Imouto turned the blade over and positioned it above her own neck. Without another moment’s hesitation, she plunged it in. Ayano watched as she twisted the blade and worked it back and forth until she could see the girl’s eyes roll over and her head lobbed back. Blood gushed, jetted out, spurted, sprayed – whatever the proper vocabulary was – out of her neck and trailed down her chest, over the other girl’s face, onto the shoes of the Photo Club members.

Everyone began to run wild once Imouto’s body collapsed forward onto the other girl’s. The entrance gates were closing and the police officers that had camped out in the school were running towards the crowd. Everybody banged on the gates, jumped over and stepped on other people, tried to climb up, tried to escape.

Ayano could clearly hear the officers’ shouts over the mass’ panicking. “Lockdown! Lockdown! Nobody leaves! Close the gates!”

> **_バブルガム✿CHUM_**  
>  ♡ thu. – 27.feb.98 / 11:35 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan8** : Get to the Info Club._  
>  _**info_chan8** : Now._


	9. The Akademi High School Lockdown Slashing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 0%

Ayano tossed the crumpled note on the ground as she snapped her phone shut. The other people in the room were screaming now. Hayato ran away from the window to vomit. Retching and screaming – not Ayano’s favorite sounds. She needed out.

“Hey!” Shaneru snapped her fingers. Everyone turned to her. “Freaking out is not going to help us right now. Let’s just get down there and see what the hell is going on. I’m sure that they’re going to want to check out every student right now.” Shaneru stepped away from the chaos that the window held. “Let’s go.”

Ayano made sure she was the last to leave. The hallway looked empty. The PA system clicked on. “Students and faculty members, the school is now officially on lockdown. No students or faculty members are allowed to leave campus grounds.” The lights turned off. Some people gasped. One girl started crying. “Everyone in the front entrance will be directed to the back of the building. Teachers, if you see any students in the halls, please escort them to the back of the school. Thank you.” The system clicked off.

“W-Was that t-the headmaster?” Ronshaku asked.

“Yup,” Shaneru answered. “I guess Kuzuryu-sensei decided to show up today. How convenient. Come on. Guess we’re going to the back.” They walked on. Ayano lingered behind. The Info Club was just to the left. She tiptoed to the room once everybody’s backs were turned. It was pitch black inside.

“Ayano?”

“It’s me.”

Two computer screens lit up. Budo tossed Ayano’s uniform at her feet. “Change. Quickly.” Ayano pulled off her dress and pulled on her shirt and skirt as fast she could. “Take these.” Her swords were tossed at her feet also. “Akumu will be here at any moment. Info-chan stole one of the henchwomen’s phones and texted her that they were too scared to leave this room. Be ready.” Ayano nodded.

Budo moved and turned off the computer monitors, letting the room become pitch black again. Ayano took the time to remove the swords from their scabbards and to familiarize her hands with the blades. The split on her finger was still proving to be problematic, but it wasn’t like it was going to be a long struggle anyway.

“This is risky,” Budo murdered. “The police are outside. The entire school is moving outside.” He chuckled. “Are you getting a rush right now too?”

“No.”

“I figured as much.” Ayano’s ears perked up. She could hear footsteps coming her way.

Shaneru was muttering to herself. “You are such a stupid idiot, Saki, locking yourself into this room, but I don’t blame you.” The door was opening. “Didn’t you hear the intercom? We’re supposed to be going to the back. Come on, you baby.”

Ayano stepped forward and swung at the girl, aiming for her throat. Shaneru dodged out of the way. The front of her dress got slashed and there was barely a cut against the skin. Shaneru screamed and raced down the hallway.

Ayano took one step towards the light and glanced back at Budo. “Go. Me and the others will be there when you get her.” Ayano nodded and went on her way.

Shaneru tripped, but when she caught sight of Ayano behind her, swords poised, she scrambled back to her feet and got back running. Ayano chased after her. This was going to be a piece of cake.

With the hall lights dim and only completely cloudy skies to filter through the windows, a somber darkness coated everything, painting the mood perfectly. All Ayano needed to make out was Shaneru’s shadow and the loud footsteps and breathy pants that the girl was giving off. Ayano’s footfalls were silent, but swift, moving down and navigating the dark halls with ease. She could stay in the shadows, out of sight if there was a lingering teacher or student roaming around.

Shaneru turned a corner and raced upstairs. “Stay away from me, you crazy bitch!” She screamed. Ayano rounded the corner and kept the chase on. “Aah!” Shaneru tripped again running up the stairs. She fell down the staircase and to Ayano’s feet all too easily. Ayano held her blades up, same as Imouto had done with her knife, and thrust them both back down, full force, aiming for the heart. Shaneru yelped and rolled out of the way, barely escaping. Ayano managed to tear the back of her dress and along her arm. Darkness began to discolor the side of the white gown. Shaneru got up again and lunged for the stairs.

Escape was futile.

“Fuck you, Aishi!” Shaneru yelled. She was holding onto her arm, desperately wrapping her fingers around her wound. “Get the hell away from me!” She was racing toward the second staircase. Why was it so important for her to go to the roof? Ayano swore that there was nobody up there.

A door opened on Ayano’s right. “I heard screamin—” Without looking, Ayano thrust her weapon forward. She quickly glanced aside. Abdomen – bull’s-eye. She placed her foot on the boy’s knee and pulled her blade out. She flicked the blood off as she made haste towards the stairs.

The clouds had darkened and Ayano felt a rain drop on the tip of her nose. Just perfect.

Blood was leaking down from the cut on Shaneru’s arm. She was looking around frantically, her long hair swooshed back and forth around her body. She was backing away slowly, eyes never leaving Ayano. “Aishi, what the hell are you doing?” She clutched the railing behind her when she ran into it. She took her eyes away from Ayano for a split second and looked down. Was everybody just below them? Didn’t matter. The storm was picking up quick. Thunder was rumbling in the distance. The girls’ hair was quick to become drenched and their clothes began to stick to their bodies. Ayano swung her wet hair from her shoulders and Shaneru tried to shake her bangs from her eyes. Ayano took a step closer. “Stop, stop!” Shaneru held on tight to the railing. “J-Just fucking stop for two seconds, please!”

“Why should I?”

“Just—tell me why! Why the fuck are you doing this? What did I ever do to you? I-I don’t understand. I-I mean, I was so nice to you! You’re, like, the only person I’ve been nice to this year!” She was cowering against the railing now. Blood was dripping onto the ground and getting mixed in the rain puddles forming beneath their feet. “W-Why?” Her voice cracked. “Why are you doing this?”

“You want something that I want.” Ayano took another step closer. Shaneru flinched back. She looked down again. Was she actually considering jumping down? Only certain death was below. “And we both can’t have it at the same time.”

“W-What are you talking about?” Ayano moved closer. Wow, the girl had really cornered herself. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Rainwater dripped down Ayano’s face and trailed down to the tips of her blades.

“Yamada Taro-senpai. He’s _mine_.”

“What?” Shaneru was frowning, but her eyes were still widened in terror. “W-Who’s that?”

“Playing dumb won’t help you now.”

Ayano lunged forward. The girl couldn’t dodge now. The blade went right through her middle. Shaneru gave a bloodcurdling cry. Ayano pulled back and jabbed the sword through the gash again, until only the hilt of the blade shown from her body. Blood was coating Ayano’s hand and beginning to drip from the girl’s lips. Ayano managed to twist her weapon in a full circle without too much trouble. When she pulled it out, she kicked the girl down.

“I-I..” Shaneru coughed. “I… I don’t understand.”

“There’s nothing to understand.” Ayano crouched down to the girl’s level. “You can’t have him. Only I can.”

“What?” She coughed again. She was trying to get to her feet, but Ayano kicked her down again. “I-I don’t… know w-who Yamada Taro is.”

“Stop lying.”

“I’m not lying!” Shaneru sobbed. “I don’t know who the fuck he is!” Tears poured down her face. “I-Is… you think that I have a crush on him? Is that it?” Her face contorted in pain. Her arms clenched over her opened stomach. “I-I don’t! I fucking swear o-on _everything_ , I don’t! I don’t even know who he is! I swear, I swear, I swear...” Her body was shaking. “Please, don’t let me die. Please, don’t let me die, please, please, Ayano, please.”

Ayano stood back up to her feet. “I… don’t understand…”

“Like you said, there’s nothing to understand.” Ayano turned around, weapons ready. Budo was standing at the entrance to the roof, alongside two girls that Ayano didn’t recognize. One had red hair and a pair of glasses while the other was wearing hood and a surgical mask, obscuring her face, but she was wearing a uniform. “Good job, Thing Two,” the redhead said. “You and your brother did a pretty decent job.”

“Who are you two?” Ayano knew the answer though.

“That’s not important. All you need to do is give us those swords, change out of those bloody clothes, and head back down with everybody else before your absence is noticed.” The other girl presented the clean clothes that she had on hand. “Hurry before someone comes up here to investigate the source of those screams.” Ayano shook her head. “Wow, you’re as stubborn as you are stupid, huh?”

“Stupid?”

“Well, it didn’t take too much convincing for you and your brother to do my bidding. You two didn’t fact check or anything. What if I was the police, baiting someone online? You two did what I wanted, no questions asked. Grade-A stupidity if you ask me.”

Ayano was already seeing blurry. Her knees nearly buckled as she took a step forward. She shook her head. She had to get herself together.

“Put those swords down before you hurt somebody.”

“No!” Ayano took a deep breath in before she ran forward. They all easily stepped aside. She wasn’t at her best like this. She tried to shake the thoughts – _the sound of the blade cutting through skin, the sight of blood pooling beneath her_ – out her head.

They laughed at her.

“Hurry up and change, Ayano,” Budo said. “You want to be able to be with Yamada after this, right?” _Senpai_. “Yeah, calm down and just change. We can go downstairs together.”

Ayano swung her sword his way. For a moment she could only see raindrops blurring her vision. The sound of thunder clapping filled her ears and rattled her brain. The sound of metal on metal pierced through it all. Budo had produced his own weapon and blocked her attack.

“Don’t make me do something that you’ll regret,” he hissed between his teeth.

“No.” She took a step back. “You will be the one to regret this.”

He scowled. They slowly began to walk around each other, not taking an eye off the other person for an instant. The rain continued to pour, but Ayano didn’t let the thunder scramble her thoughts anymore. She let Budo take over. How his eyes were intently focused on hers, how the rain was rolling down his face and flattening his hair and dripping down his nose, how his eyes moved down for a split second and his hands tensed on the hilt of the blade.

She blocked his first swing easily. And then the second, and then the third. She could see that he was furious, that adrenaline was coursing through his body by the second. His jaw was clenched. His knuckles were white. He was filled with pure, unadulterated fury and wasting it all on her.

“First, you let yourself get tricked into being Info’s hitman and now you’re trying to fight me? You’ve got to be the stupidest person I’ve ever met!” Their swords clinked again. He swung, she blocked. “Just give up already!”

“No.” Thrust. Block. A wild grin spread across his face.

“I have to commend whoever the fuck trained you. You’re putting up a decent fight.”

“The House of Blue Leaves had good instructors.”

“I know! _I fucking know_!” He grunted again as he swung at her. She moved to the side so he couldn’t corner her against the railing. “You don’t remember me, but I remember you!” He laughed and swung aimlessly. Ayano could see the line of his shoulders beginning to rise up and down. He was tiring himself out. Fighting high off pure emotion usually did that to a person. He lowered his weapon suddenly, but it wasn’t the perfect opportunity to throw a jab at him though. “1990, before we both moved from Kumamoto City to Buraza Town, you trained in my father’s class every Monday through Friday until we both moved here in ’95.” He shook the water from his hair. “I loved you from the first moment I saw you.”

“I didn’t even know your name back then.” Ayano raised an eyebrow and took a step back. “And I will never love you.”

“I know. But I figured with Yamada’s best friend and his little sister dead, he’d be too depressed to accept yours or any other potential girls’ confessions. And then I could have you all to myself. That’s the only reason why I got involved with this shit in the first place!” Budo’s eyes lit up suddenly. “I should’ve done this a long time ago.” He turned and ran away suddenly. Without a hitch, Ayano ran after.

He was going to the other side of the roof. The other two girls were still there in the entrance, watching silently. Ayano breathed in deeply, letting calmness take over her mind once again. She made sure she was careful not to slip on any puddles. She glanced down at her swords. He had scratched up and slightly bent the blade that she had used to block him with. It was the same bloodied one that she had used to end Shaneru. She tossed it aside.

“There he is!” Budo was pulling someone from behind the wall and threw them on the ground. Ayano sucked a breath in. _Senpai_. “Should’ve followed orders and went downstairs with everybody else, huh? Or could you not hear the excitement and the intercom from up here?” Senpai was on his back, looking up in pure dread at the both of them.

“M-Masuta? Aishi? What are yo—?”

“Shut up!” Budo barked. “You see that girl?” Budo pointed his sword Ayano’s way. “It was her! She was the one who killed Najimi and your little sister and everybody else! Her!” Senpai slowly turned his head to face Ayano. The look in his eyes was…

“It was her?” … _heartbreaking_.

“Yes! And her brother too. They both are obsessed with you, so we tricked them into killing some of the girls who like you and then some.” Budo laughed. “Stupid right?”

Ayano couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t feel her heart beat anymore. She wanted to drop to her knees in grief. Senpai was looking at her again. His mouth was moving, but the blood pumping in her ears drowned out his words. She didn’t want to hear what he had to say anyway for once.

“—don’t worry, I’ll help you get your revenge.” Budo swung at her again. He managed to graze against her side before she dodged out of the way. She couldn’t even feel any pain. She couldn’t feel anything, not even the rain, anymore. “Just fucking die already, Aishi! You’re not going t—” Budo dropped his sword suddenly. A blade protruded from his stomach. He tried to pull it out. “No, no, no, no, no! Fuck!” He was kicked down and tossed aside.

Ayano found herself moving and plunging her sword into Budo’s back, over and over and over again like Imouto had done with the Photo Club girl. Her vision blackened and her breath was chopping up into a shuddery staccato rhythm, but she didn’t care. He needed to die.

_Die._

_Die._

_Die._

“Yan.”

_Die._

“Yan. Look at me.”

_No._

“Look at me, Yan!” The sword was ripped out of her hands. She could only look down. Senpai was still staring, still watching her. He was frozen in place. Not even his eyes were moving. Through the terror, she could make out the absolute disgust radiating off of him. Yande was pulling her back. “We have to go.”

“H-How could you do this?” Senpai hurried to get on his feet. “D-Do you realize what you just done? You _killed_ him. You killed Osana. You k-killed my sister. How could you? Y-Y-You’re a monster!” He backed away from them. She was sure there was more blood than rainwater dripping off of her at this point. “O-Oh, my God.” Senpai clutched his chest. “Help!” He yelled. “Somebody, help! Help!”

“He…” Ayano looked down at her hands. They were covered in red. “He’s never going to love me after this.”

“Yan, come on.” Yande was tugging on her arm. “We have to go. Somebody could come at any minute.”

Ayano’s entire world was ending around her. Her heart was racing. Her head was dizzy. Her body was beginning to grow numb. She covered her face with her hands and could feel tears running down her cheeks. No, no, no. She hadn’t cried since her fourteenth birthday. She furiously wiped away at the tears and closed her eyes. It didn’t help. She couldn’t get rid of the feeling that someone had their hands around her neck and was pressing and squeezing her windpipe closed. She couldn’t get the image of Senpai looking at her as if she was the most despicable and vile creature that the universe had ever produced out of her head.

A hand touched her back. She threw it off of her.

Yamada Taro was so many things that she couldn’t even begin on how to voice just exactly what he meant to her. Yamada Taro was more than just some schoolboy crush. He was everything. Everything. He was the embodiment of everything that she had ever wanted. He was every star in the night sky that twinkled and watched over her before she fell asleep to the thought of him. He was the sun that rose every morning in the horizon, reminding her that there was a reason to live after all. He was the face in her dream that seized her guts. He was the flutter in her heart, the knot in her stomach, the one who was always on her mind.

But now he could never feel the same way for her.

Never.

“Ayano?” She pushed off Yande’s arm again. Senpai was still staring at her, still had that look in his eye. Her body went on autopilot then. Her mind was already made up. She snatched back the sword from her brother’s hands. In the back of her mind she knew that the blade was most likely busted from all the abuse that she had just put it through, but it didn’t matter. It was still sharp. It was still going to do its job.

Her feet moved her toward Senpai and her arms automatically rose up between the two of them. “If I can’t have you…” Her hands may have shook as she aimed the weapon, but that didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore. “No one can.” She touched his cheek. This was the first time she ever touched him. His skin was wet from the rain, but still smooth and soft, just as she always imagined it.

“G-Get off me!” She was getting blood on his cheek. She placed a finger over his lips and shushed him. She leaned up on the tips of her feet and kissed him. Finally. Ah, his lips were just as soft as she imagined too. His yelps were muffled beneath her lips. Her head was hazy when she backed away from him. He looked mortified.

She sunk the blade into his chest, twisted, and was quick to yank it back out. He fell to his knees and landed by her feet. He deserved something that was quick and painless. He didn’t deserve to suffer. He deserved mercy. He deserved better – better than what she could ever give him.

Ayano looked at the bloodied blade before her. Was this poetic justice?

“Info-chan!” Yande was running to the other side of the roof. “Where are you? You said that this wasn’t going to happen!” He managed to find the redhead in the doorway, standing with the masked girl. They had beckoned him to the roof saying that instead of Ayano coming down with the others, she and Budo were arguing. Info-chan had insisted that it was nothing serious, that they didn’t have any weapons, but Yande knew better. He made sure to take a quick stop at the Cooking Club room and come prepared.

“Yeah, and?” She shrugged as if there was nothing wrong.

“And look what happened! Masuta’s dead. Senpai’s dead. Ayano’s crying. Tell me what happened.” He held the knife he brought in front of her. “ _Now_.”

Info-chan looked unperturbed by his threat. “I just told her the truth. That the both of you are stupid and I just wiped my hands with you guys.”

“I don’t think that really matters right now. You’re probably creaming your pants right now at the thought that your little ‘mastermind’ plan succeeded, but honestly it doesn’t matter.” He waved the knife around right below her nose. “Okay, maybe you might have ‘tricked’ us into doing your deed or whatever and we were less than smart letting you.” He shrugged. “Who cares?” He wanted nothing more to just plunge the knife through her stupid skull. “I know I don’t.”

“Well, you certainly showed me, Thing One.” She pushed the knife aside with her finger. “Great speech. You really stuck it to me there.” He snarled. “Ooh, you’re so barbaric and masculine.” He pushed her hand away and aimed right for the skull like he wanted. Info-chan didn’t even move. She didn’t even blink or twitch. The lenses of glasses momentarily became clouded and in a blink of an eye, Info-7 stepped in front of Info-chan and took the blow.

Yande immediately stepped back in shock. All he could see were the girl’s eyes and they were quickly watering, but she didn’t make a sound. She dropped down to her knees before plummeting to the ground. He backed away so that she wouldn’t fall on his feet.

Info-chan had the audacity to laugh. “And the plot thickens.” She saluted him. “Have fun avoiding the feds now. Our little working relationship ends now.” She went into the building. No, she wasn’t just going to get away that easily.

He ran out into the halls. The lights were still off. He looked left and right. Info-chan was nowhere to be found.

“Hey, kid!” Officer Kanon was rushing up the stairs. _Shit_. “Good thing I was sweeping the school for any lingering people. Let’s go out to the back of the school, kid, come on. It’s mandatory, not optional, you know.” Yande reached down and grabbed the knife handle protruding from Info-7’s head. He tugged and tugged, but it would not budge. Perfect timing. Officer Kanon had reached the top of the stairs now. “Aishi? Is that you?” The officer’s eyes widened as he took in the scene before him. The officer unclipped the walkie-talkie from his hip and quickly muttered, “We got an eleven-oh-one on the roof, over,” into it. “Care to tell me what happened here?” He asked after he returned the device to his hip.

“I don’t think there’s too much to explain.” Yande looked off to the side. He couldn’t see Ayano. More officers were racing up the stairs and he was swamped by police officers. He felt handcuffs bite into his wrists. Officer Kanon took him by the arm. There was a somber expression on the man’s face.

“I honestly didn’t think it was you. I didn’t want to either. You were such a nice kid. I really liked you and your sister, you know.” He sighed. They all began to walk downstairs. Cops surrounded them. Yande couldn’t see anything but blue uniforms. “What is your sister going to think about this, huh? And your mother and father too, what are they going to think about this?”

“It doesn’t matter what they think. It doesn’t matter what anybody thinks.” Yande tried to glance behind him to take one last look at the roof, but an officer shoved him forward. He nearly tripped down the stairs.

“Oh, but I think it does, kid.” Officer Kanon cleared his throat. “Let’s get this over with. Aishi Yande, you are under arrest for the suspicion of murder. You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. You have the right to have the Embassy or the Consulate to be notified of your arrest. If you decide to answ—”

“Wait, my sister.”

“Huh? Don’t interrupt me, kid. She’s probably outside with the rest of ‘em anyway. Nothing to worry about.”

Yande shook his head. “She was on the roof too. Something bad happened.”

“Yeah, something bad happened all right. We all saw.”

Yande halted in his tracks. He stood his ground when Kanon tried to pull him forward. “Send somebody to check on her.” Kanon sighed. He looked at one of the surrounding cops and cocked his head. One of the men got out of formation and went up the stairs. Kanon tried to pull Yande forward again, but the boy dug his heels into the ground. “I’m not leaving until I know my sister is okay.”

“If you’re implying that she was your accomplice, then she’s most likely fine. But if you’re implying that she was one of your victims, then help will be on the way. We have a couple of ambulances parked out back.”

The officer that left dashed back down the stairs. He hadn’t been gone for long. Originally, all of the officers that were escorting Yande down the stairs had stone cold expressions on their faces. This one looked downright disturbed. “K-Kanon.”

“Something wrong, Suzuki?”

“We got two more stiffs and an eleven-twenty-eight.” Yande looked up at Kanon. His expression fell also.

“Are you sure?” Suzuki curtly nodded.

“What’s wrong?” Yande looked back and forth between the two officers. “What does that mean? Where’s my sister?” Officer Kanon tugged on his arm again, but Yande tried to hold his ground. More officers pushed him, but he still tried to resist until they had to throw him on the ground. “I’m not leaving without my sister! Where is she? Where’s my sister?” They were picking Yande off the ground. He tried to kick at them, tried to break away from their grasps. “Ayano!” He yelled. They practically dragged him the rest of the way out to the entrance.

There were more people looking over Imouto and Wakimoto’s bodies. Everything was taped down, pictures were being taken, and blood was being swabbed.

“Stop struggling, kid,” Kanon said. “You’re only making it harder on yourself.”

“Ayano!” Yande tried to look up at the roof. He couldn’t see anything. “Ayano!”

“Aishi, stop, please.” Kanon rubbed the bridge of his nose. A few of the officers dropped Yande on the ground by the gates and walked away. Yande didn’t move to his feet and Officer Kanon didn’t pull him back up. The rain still plummeted.

“…I just want my sister.”

Kanon looked down. “Kid, an ‘eleven-twenty-eight’ is a suicide. I’m so sorry.”


	10. Folie à Deux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 100%

Officer Kanon became Yande’s new companion. He saw the officer more than he saw his own parents (which was zero times so far – not even one phone call). The man handed Yande a drink and let out a breath as he sat down. The officer was filled with sighs instead of smiles recently. He rubbed the bridge of nose – possibly another habit of stress – as he popped the tab on his own drink. Yande mimicked his actions.

“Okay, kid, let’s talk.”

“About what?”

“I just wanted to tell you some things.” Kanon glanced at the stack of papers that he brought in with him. “So, juvenile cases involve cases concerning those aged between fourteen to twenty years of age who have violated a criminal law or ordinance, blah, blah, blah. To cut to the chase, since you are not under the age of fourteen, being born…” Kanon glanced at the papers again. “Being born on the first of April, ’82, making you fifteen years, eleventh months, and two days old as of the third of March, ‘98—which is today—it means you’re considered an offender under the Penal Code.”

“I should have done this last year, huh? When I was fourteen.” Kanon gave him a look. “I’m sorry. Continue.”

Kanon took a slow sip of his drink. “Now, prosecutors seek out the death penalty almost systematically in the cases of multiple homicides. It’s handed down in seventy-nine percent of cases where three or more victims have been murdered. That being said, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights say that executions for crimes committed under the age of eighteen are forbidden. But… things aren’t looking up for you, kid.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. Okay, we got a nine-point set of criteria when it comes to considering an execution. I wanted to go over them with you. First we look at the degree of viciousness. We only know that you tortured Yamada Imouto to the point where she was willing to not only kill herself, but another student.” Kanon shrugged, as if that was enough to be said. “Second, we look at motive. I think we uncovered a lot of jealousy going on here if we get down to the basics, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Third, we look at how the crime was committed, especially the manner in which the victim was killed. We know that you used a knife to…” Kanon thumbed through his pages again. “You put a knife through Kuzuryu Sayoko’s skull.” Kanon cleared his throat. “Fourth, the outcome of the crime—especially the number of victims. I estimate around twenty victims here, but we’re still investigating some. Fifth, the sentiments of the bereaved family members. Sixth, the impact of the crime on society. Seventh, age. Eighth, previous criminal record. And ninth, the degree of remorse being shown.”

“How I am looking according to these criteria then?”

“Not too well. Obviously. I mean…” Kanon leaned back in his seat. “Do you know who Nagayama Norio is?” Yande shook his head. “He had a severely disadvantaged background and in 1968, when he was nineteen years old, he went on four separate robbery-murders and was just hanged last year. See, the Tokyo high court gave him a life term at first, but in ’83 the Supreme Court quashed the sentence. You see where I’m going with this, kid?”

“No. Where are you going with this, Officer?”

“I can see this trial already. You’re planning on confessing, right?” Yande nodded. “I can see this getting dragged out for a while, being that you’re a juvenile now, and in two or three years, when you’re about eighteen or so, all of a sudden they’re going to say there was an ‘error’ and they’ll hand you the death penalty.”

“I see now.”

“You’re oddly calm about this.”

“I deserve this. There’s nothing to object here.” Yande took a slow sip of his drink. “How are my parents?”

“We tracked them down this morning. They have indefinitely relocated to Rancho Palos Verdes, California. We couldn’t get too much out of them and your father made it clear that he does not want to call or visit you. Your mother was willing though, but it doesn’t seem likely if you ask me. Sorry, kid.”

“No. It’s okay. I don’t want to see them anyway. I don’t care.” They sat in silence for a moment. Only the sound of the two slurping their drinks was released into the atmosphere. “You mentioned you look at the impact on society?”

“Yes. If you’re wondering, the event from the lockdown is labeled ‘the Akademi High School Lockdown Slashing’ and the overall murders are called ‘the 1998 Akademi High School Incident.’ You have been labeled as ‘Child A’ and your sister is ‘Child B.’”

Yande looked down at his drink. It was the same flavor soda that he had gotten for himself and Ayano that day when she was getting cold feet about Kokona Haruka, so he kissed her and tossed her on the table an— “How is she? How’s Ayano?”

“She’s… fine.”

“What does that mean?”

“Still comatose. Hasn’t improved, hasn’t worsened. If she awake—”

“ _When_ she awakens, you mean.”

“Of course. _When_ she awakens she’ll be getting the same treatment as you are. It’s a miracle that we managed to save her before the blood loss was too significant. Stab wounds are serious business, especially purposefully self-inflicted ones.” Kanon stood up then. “Anyways, you’ll be transported to the Kumamoto Juvenile Prison and going to the courts there because Buraza Town is lacking. If—I’m sorry, _when_ —push comes to shove then you’ll be moved to the Hiroshima Detention House.”

“Why Hiroshima?”

“It’s the closest place with an execution chamber.”

❀

Yande made himself as comfortable as a person could make themselves in handcuffs and an itchy outfit. There were more people than ever before in the room now. A few drinks were laid out in front of him, courtesy of Officer Kanon, along with a meager untouched breakfast consisting of rice and a boiled egg. Said officer was sitting by him now, arms crossed and uniform disheveled.

A man and a woman were seated in front of Yande. Their side of the table was covered in pens and papers and tape recorders. Someone else had already set up a few video cameras. More people had pens and pads. The room reeked of ink and coffee and the few fluorescent lights in the ceiling were beginning to flicker from being on for so long.

Kanon nudged Yande’s arm. Yande cleared his throat. “My name is Aishi Yande, born the first of April, 1982, and today on the sixth of March, 1998, I have decided to give my confession.” People were beginning to write now.

“Matsumoto Jo, homicide detective with the NPA,” the man sitting in front of him said.

“Yoshimura Kayoko,” the woman said, “Chief Superintendent of the Kumamoto Police Headquarters.” She took a sip of her coffee as other people in the room began introducing themselves. More officers, more detectives. Yande didn’t bother to remember their names. It wasn’t like they were important. “Aishi-san,” Yoshimura said after the formalities were over, “take us to the beginning, please.”

“It started on Christmas last year, me and my sister were alone at home. Our mother left because one of our family members was sick. Our father had left a few months before that.”

“Did your parents often leave the both of you alone?”

“Yes and no. I mean, our parents took a few trips without us before, but this was the longest that they ever left us completely alone.”

“How did they take care of you with the both of them away?”

“They both sent us money. We could buy food and stuff from the stores. Yan and I could take care of ourselves.”

“So your parents were separated at the time?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

Yoshimura glanced at Matsumoto. The man cleared his throat and picked up the questions. “So, it all started on the twenty-fifth of December of last year?” Yande nodded. “Why? What happened that day?”

“Well, Yan and I got this anonymous text message from someone. My sister and I had a crush on this classmate, Yamada Taro, and the person who had texted us said that there were other people who liked Yamada. So in order for us to be only the ones to have him, we had to get rid of all of these ‘rivals.’ I only agreed to go with these plans because Yan wanted to.”

“Wait, you had affections for the same person?” Yande nodded. “This wasn’t a problem?”

“No. Yan and I are used to sharing. We’re twins you know. We’ve shared a lot of things together in the past.”

Matsumoto frowned. “Can you elaborate on that?”

“I rather not.” Yande heard Kanon clear his throat and fidget in his seat. “We were… We were closer than siblings are supposed to be.” Yande straightened up. Best to leave things vague. “Anyway, this person who had messaged us laid out this entire plan to get rid of these rivals and we were to follow them starting after winter break.” Yande held his hand out to the calendar in front of Matsumoto. “May I use this?” Matsumoto passed the calendar along with a pen Yande’s way. He flipped back to January. “Let’s see… the eighth of January, we kidnapped Najimi Osana. We threw her into this cello case trunk and rolled her to our house. That same day we got messages from two other people. I got messages from Kuzuryu Sayoko, the headmaster’s youngest daughter and also the one I killed on the roof, and Ayano got them from Masuta Budo, the president of the Martial Arts Club and one of the people that she killed on the roof.” Yande pointed to the next day. “We killed Osana then. We dismembered her in the basement with a circular saw that the people from the messages sent us. We were told to video tape this too.”

“Does this tape still exist?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure that we mailed the tape and the camera off to some anonymous location. We didn’t send it online.”

“So Najimi Osana was your first victim?”

“Yes. She was the first.”

“What did you do with her body?”

“You mean body parts? I put them in trash bags and threw them away.”

“The neighbors weren’t concerned?”

“No. We have a soundproof basement and it wasn’t like I dumped her entire body on the curb all at once. Anyway, a couple of days after that we were told that we have a deadline now. We had to kill by Thursdays, one rival per week. On the twelfth I met Officer Kanon.” Yande gestured toward the aforementioned officer. “He asked us about Najimi’s disappearance and we said lied about it. Then on the fourteenth, we kidnapped Shiba Sumiko from her house. On Wednesdays, she’s the only one home. Ayano killed her by herself.”

“Did you dispose of the body in the same manner?”

“Yes. And then on the fifteenth, I concocted this poison or whatever and Yan used it to kill the other two members in the Cooking Club. I don’t know what their names were though.”

Yoshimura sighed. “At the time the members of the Cooking Club consisted of your sister, Shiba Sumiko, Kokona Haruka, Hinata Kohara, and Soma Riku. You’re saying that you created a poison for your sister to use to kill Hinata Kohara and Soma Riku and make it look like it was a case of food poisoning?” Yande nodded. The woman crossed her arms. “Matsumoto, you can continue.”

“What happened after the poisoning?”

“After that I joined Drama Club to get closer to Kokona Haruka because the Cooking Club disbanded. While we were on the roof practicing for the upcoming play at night, Ayano kidnapped Sora Sosuke and we both killed Kokona and Yuna Hina. We tossed their bodies off the roof and then put them through the incinerator.”

“You put their bodies in the school’s incinerator?” Yande nodded. Yes, that’s what he said. “What about their bones?”

“Masuta and Kuzuryu took care of that.”

“Okay. And you didn’t do anything to Sora Sosuke that night?”

“No. We just locked him up in the basement bathroom and kept him fed and stuff. And then on the twenty-eighth, Yan killed Kaiyo Puru by the school swimming pool. And then on the third of February I joined the Photography and the Occult Club…”

❀

Hours stacked upon hours of talking, questioning, more talking, even more questioning. A break was taken so that food could be ordered and delivered and the cameras’ film could be checked and more coffee could be brewed.

“Quick rundown,” Matsumoto said after finishing his meal. He looked over his notepad. “So, according to you, your sister murdered Shiba Sumiko, Kaiyo Puru, an unindentified boy you discovered in the hallway on your way to the roof, Akumu Shaneru, Masuta Budo, and Yamada Taro. You murdered Shin Higaku, Chojo Tekina, Daku Atsu, Kokuma Jutsu, Sora Sosuke, Supana Churu, and Kuzuryu Sayoko. And then you both murdered Najimi Osana, Hinata Koharu, Soma Riku, Kokona Haruka, Yuna Hina, and Oka Ruto. With the help of Masuta Budo you all murdered Akabara Murasa, Keiji Kupa, Yamaguchi Daishin, and Shiba Sumito. And with the help of both Masuta Budo and Kuzuryu Sayoko you tortured Yamada Imouto into killing Wakimoto Kimi and herself.”

Yande nodded. “Yes, that sounds about right.”

“There are a couple of things I don’t understand here, though.”

“What is it?”

“Who was the third anonymous person that you mentioned messaging you? You only gave us two names.”

“I could only give two names because I only knew two of them. Masuta told us who he was and I just found out who Kuzuryu was. I don’t know who that third person was.”

“And you’re positive that you do not know what their indentity is? You never saw them?”

“No, I never saw who ‘Info-chan’ was.”

“Okay then. You better not be lying to us or else the consequences will be serious.” The man sighed and wrote something down. “And I don’t understand why you stood there and let your sister murder Yamada Taro. If this was your ‘beloved,’ why didn’t you stop her from killing him?”

Yande shrugged. “I don’t really know why, honestly. I think I let her kill him the same reason why Masuta was going to kill her.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means what I said earlier, ‘if I can’t have you, no one can.’ That’s the mindset that’s been in the Aishi family for generations, especially the women. Masuta was obsessed with Yan for some reason, so he was ready to get ‘revenge’ for her because he knew that if he had done that he could have covered it up as some type of ‘hero’ story for protecting Yamada and defeating the ‘killer.’ In reality, if he couldn’t have her, he didn’t want anybody else too. Yan did it to Yamada for the some reason.” Yande took a deep breath. “When she realized that Yamada would never love her once Masuta told him that she was the one who broke his sister and killed his best friend and everybody else, something… something _snapped_ inside her. And I let her do it because…”

“Because what?”

“Because… I never liked him. I lied. I’m not even attracted to other men necessarily. Can’t you see what this is?” Pictures of the victims were hung up on the board at the far side of the room. Yande jumped to his feet and walked over. Kanon reached out for him but stopped. The people in the room cleared a path out of the way. The cameras immediately turned to capture what Yande was doing now. Yande tore down the picture of Taro from the wall. “Can’t you see what this is?” He repeated. He held the photograph to the side of his face. “Don’t we look alike? Do you see it now?”

“What are you trying to tell us, Aishi?” Yoshimura asked.

“What I’m _trying_ to tell you is that Yamada Taro and I look more alike than Yan and I do. We used to be really close before we turned fourteen and moved to Buraza Town. After that, we were still close, but not close in the same way like we were in Kumamoto City. All I wanted was her. I figured that in some way this plan would go wrong and with Yamada out of the picture, then I could have Yan all to myself. That’s really why I went through with the entire thing.” Yande pinned the picture back up. “After what I did to her she threw her affections on Yamada because he’s basically like me—same looks, same hair, same style, same everything—but better. He’s the ‘me’ that Ayano always wanted.” He sighed and returned back to his seat. “He was better because he would have never hurt her.”

“Aishi,” Matsumoto said, “what did you do to your sister?”

“I just did something really bad to her on our fourteenth birthday. I don’t want to talk about it, but it was enough to make her run away and actually cry, so you can fill in the blanks there.” Everyone in the room began to murmur and look at one another. Kanon stood up from his chair. Yande didn’t look to see where the man went. “Are we done here? That’s everything. Forty-nine days of terror all accounted for.”

“Yeah, kid,” Kanon said from across the room. Everybody turned to him. “We’re done here.”

❀

“073116!” The cell doors creaked open. “You have a visitor!” Yande set down his plate of fish – the usual – and got to his feet. Two guards set handcuffs on his wrists before taking him by the arm and leading him away.

“Who is it?”

“Kuzuryu Sachiko. Says she’s an old friend.” Yande frowned. He certainly was not “old friends” with anybody by that name.

The entire trip down the hall was silent. Yande glanced toward a few of the other cells. Looked like it was late, everybody was still asleep. He was surprised that the yelling hadn’t woken anybody up.

“Nothing less than five minutes, nothing more than thirty minutes,” the guard said. Yande nodded. He knew how it went. His mother visited him nearly every every day at first until her visits dwindled down to once a week, then once a month, and then to never. His father only visited once, being forced to go along with his mother. They didn’t speak to each other the entire time. Officer Kanon paid him a few of visits, updating him on this and that. He even told Yande that his wife – one of the teachers at school, but Yande didn’t have Kanon-sensei – was pregnant and they decided to move to Kagoshima together to raise their child. That was their last visit together. When Yande had returned to his cell then, a guard announced that his allowance had added to. Yande smirked when he asked who exactly had donated more money to him, but the guard refused to answer.

Those were the easier visits, the first year. The second year... did not have the best visits.

The Najimi’s decided to pay him a visit first. They were everything like their daughter: hotheaded and loud. Yande could feel his ears ringing after the visit. And the guards didn’t cut into it at all.

A lone grandmother came to visit him a few weeks after that. She quietly said that she tried to offer snacks to him, but her offer was refused so she decided upon envelopes, papers, and a pen instead. She said that she figured showing him some kindness like Sweetie had done for everyone else would help her grieving heart. When she got up to leave, Yande heard her whisper to herself that her little act of kindness did not make her feel better though. Yande had sent as many letters as he could with the supplies he had that week even though he knew his recipient couldn’t afford the sanctuary to reply back to him.

Yamada’s father visited. He was quiet at first, only wringing his hands over and over again and staring off into space for the first few minutes. Yande had been tempted to break the silence, but Yamada’s father said, “Rot in hell,” and then got up and left.

“Happy birthday, Thing One.” Yande held his tongue. “What’s it like being legally seen as an adult now?”

“It’s great,” he hissed between his teeth. “Soon they’ll get to execute me without feeling guilty about it.”

“Aw, that really is great!” She laughed. “Do you know what happened to Akademi High?”

“No. Fill me in.”

“The old building got torn down. The headmaster wanted a ‘fresh start,’ so he renovated the entire thing to be bigger and better and made it into Akademi Academy. I wish you could see it.”

“I don’t.”

“Anyways, I just came by here to thank you.”

“For what? I did a lot for you if I remember things right.” Yande glanced at the guard watching over their conversation. “Old girlfriend,” he whispered loudly. The guard frowned.

“Thank you for still letting me do what I do best.” She shrugged and pushed one of her dyed red locks from getting in her eyes. “So, how many more days until… you know?”

“It’s nice how they give you a five day warning before they execute you.” Yande shrugged. “I got three more days. They were even nice enough to do it after my birthday.”

“That _is_ nice.” She stood up then. “Well, that’s six minutes and I think we both hate small talk.” She poked her finger on the glass that separated them. “I also wanted to tell you that your sister has three days too. Goodbye, Aishi.”

❀

> **_スーパーバブルガム★CHUM PLUS!_**  
>  ♡ thu. – 25.dec.13 / 22:45 ♡  
>  _> chat connected!_
> 
> _**info_chan6** : Hello._  
>  _**insertusernamehere** : Who is this?_  
>  _**info_chan6** : I am Info-chan, and that’s all you need to know._

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Sweet N I G H T M A R E](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8029429) by [Naoko_Kiseki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naoko_Kiseki/pseuds/Naoko_Kiseki)




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